The old saying "Well, I wouldn't start from here" is irrsistable here, but not helpful, because you always have to "start from here".

An announced timetable for complete withdrawal of occupying troops, and for any outside peacekeepers to be placed under control of an Iraqi government, that's an essential starting point.

And an immediate priority of getting the basic services, such as water and electricity back on line. There are people with the expertise and understanding of how that can be done, and clearly they aren't the ones being employed by the occupying forces.

During the transitional period, an administration in control which treats the killing of Iraqi civilians as being every bit as serious as the killing of members of the occupying armies.

And zero tolerance for the carpetbaggers who would try to profit from privatisation and reconstruction.