I have been thinking a lot about the proposed increase in troops in Iraq. It's a difficult topic and civilian and military experts whose opinions I respect are all over the place on this issue.

But as is often the case, Thomas Friedman, (the brilliant foreign affairs columnist) put his finger on what I would have said if I was more intelligent or could better organize my thoughts. Friedman starts off quoting Bill Maher--"Make them fight all of us"--and then goes on to explain how and why. Friedman has been pounding the table on his "geo-green" strategy for a long time now, and today, he deftly drives it though the giant opening created by Bush's recent speech.

I strongly recommend reading Fredman's whole column, but here is the heart of it:

"Mr. President, you want a surge? I’ll surge. I’ll surge on the condition that you once and for all enlist the entire American people in this war effort, and stop putting it all on the shoulders of 130,000 military families, and now 20,000 more. I’ll surge on the condition that you make them fight all of us — and that means a real energy policy, with a real gasoline tax, that ends our addiction to oil, shrinks the flow of petro-dollars to bad actors and makes America the world’s leader in conservation.

But please, Mr. President, stop insulting our intelligence by telling us that this is the “decisive ideological struggle of our time,” but we’re going to put the whole burden of victory on 150,000 U.S. soldiers. Yes, you’re right, confronting violent Islamic radicalism by trying to tilt Iraq and the Arab-Muslim world onto a more progressive track is indeed hugely important. But the way you have fought this war — with our pinky — is contemptible. For three years you would not summon the military means to back your lofty ends.

...

Make them fight all of us, Mr. President, or don’t do it at all! If we made ourselves energy independent, we would bring down global oil prices, which would not only shrink the resources for mischief by our enemies and limit Saudi Arabia’s ability to transform Islam all over the world into its most intolerant Wahhabi form, but also, more important, would force the Arab world to reform. It would force Arab leaders, including Iraqis, to organize their societies in ways that would tap their people, not just their oil wells — whether our troops were there or not. Also, if the rest of the world saw all of us sacrificing to win this war, we might actually be able to enlist them to help a little."