U.S. Marines hold a prayer vigil for a fallen comrade in the April, 2004 Battle in Fallujah, Iraq.

With the loss of one American soldier per day since the so-called end of major hostilities, I feel compelled to propose an idea whose time has come. That idea is to send our prisoners over to Iraq. This would not be a mere substitution of our brave military forces for prisoners but a permanent transfer of our human garbage as a gift to the Iraqi people!!

In proposing this solution to the Middle East/Terrorist problem I have seven points that I'd like to make in defense of this idea. The idea by some naysayers would be that to send our prisoners would be cruel or inhumane. Please read on and form your own opinion.

The seven points (in brief) are:

1. Save American Servicemen Lives - obvious points here plus making those forces available to be deployed in other areas where their training could be better put to use.

2. Reduce Prison Populations and a Corresponding Amount of Tax Dollars to Support our Human Garbage - every state has a budget crisis and reducing the prison population is one way to control expenditures with no adverse risk to our society. Additionally, it would not cost nearly as much to support a prisoner in Iraq as it does an American soldier.

3. Better Social Match for the Iraqi Society of Today - Iraq and its citizens are use to autocratic rule. Their society demands a strong national leadership. Our prisoners have their own societal structure they adhere to which recognizes and rewards strength and authority. This closeness in thought processes will make for an easier transition for the Iraqi people.

4. Long Run Benefits for Iraqi and Arab Society - Iraq, and in the broader picture the entire Arab community, will learn tolerance. The lack of tolerance was in the final analysis what allowed the terrorists on September 11th. to do the deeds that we all remember. The societal changes brought about by our prisoners are not just for the immediate life of Iraq and its citizens but will also amount to a much-needed dose of chlorine into their gene pool!! The benefits of having our prisoners, some of whom are born again Christians, can only be of a positive benefit to the long-term future and stability of Iraq. We live in a multicultural society as do many other corners of the world ... why not Iraq and the rest of the Arab World??

5. Pinning Down the Terrorist Enemy - Our prisoners in Iraq will present an additional enemy for the Arab Terrorists to fight. These will tie-up their resources including their human and monetary assets. There will be less of each resource to send to America or wherever our interests are to disrupt our life style. This is akin to opening a new front in the war without using our armed forces and saving those assets for future battles that are sure to be fought.

6. American Political Benefit - The power to pardon lawbreakers is the sole responsibility of the executive branch of our government. The executives I am referring to are the President and the Governors of the States. There is no check to this power by the legislative or judicial branches as was recently proven during the last days of the Clinton Presidency. This fact makes for political expediency as there is no need for a national debate or allowing the bleeding heart liberals to decry the lost bureaucracy (closing prisons) and bogus claims of constitutional rights of the prisoners.

7. Historical Precedence - There have been at least four notable instances in the world's history where prisoners have been used to great effect; Britain utilized Australia as a penal colony, Stalin used prisoners to fight the Germans during World War II, China used prisoners to fight UN forces during the Korean War and Castro sent us his best and brightest in the late 70's during what was called the Muriel Boat Lift. In all of these actions it was shown that the prisoners performed with distinction and successfully altered the balance of power.

The seven points (in detail) are:

1. Save American Servicemen Lives - Send our prisoners over to Iraq permanently and make them Iraqi citizens. When one of them dies it is to support and defend their new country and not the United States. The prisoners will have an incentive to clean up the society and rid it of all remnants of the Baath Party. They will have other reasons to secure and stabilize the society to get the oil flowing and other commerce to build a society beneficial not only to themselves but the native Iraqis. The prisoners are hardened individuals who need very little weapons training. They also possess crowd control skills having lived in a system in which all of their activities were controlled sometimes with the use of force. Prisoners are already adapted to the conditions they'd face in Iraq!!

Prisoners are therefore better suited for the long-term goal of rebuilding Iraq, as this will no doubt take years. How long do we want to continue losing our solders now at a rate of 1/day??

2. Reduce Prison Populations and a Corresponding Amount of Tax Dollars to Support our Human Garbage - In the state of Wisconsin that I am from it costs the taxpayers $76/day to keep a prisoner in a state run correctional facility. One number, which has been discussed in the press, of soldiers it will take to stabilize Iraq is 250,000. If we sent prisoners instead that would be a savings of $19 million per day. This certainly beats the $1 billion dollars per week it costs to keep our military forces in Iraq!! Additionally, we would then be able to close and consolidate some of our prisons and transfer the law enforcement assets to other homeland security tasks such as our border patrol and shore patrol where we are still very vulnerable. Bureaucrats would not lose their jobs and this would pacify the bleeding heart liberals!! What state would not like to have these savings??

3. Better Social Match for the Iraqi Society of Today - Our prisoners are in prisoner because they cannot function in our society. They rape, rob, murder, etc. and this is unacceptable in our society. We have a moral and value system based on the Judeo/Christian value system where lying is unacceptable behavior. The Iraqis (and Arabs) have a moral and values system that allows them to lie in order to get advancement in society. Additionally why is it that the Saudis are able to tell us to our faces that they are our friends and then still provide money to terrorist organizations?? Are we that gullible?? Prince Bandar's (Saudi Arabia) wife has provided money to terrorists who claimed they needed the money for medical or other legitimate bills. Why did she pay them directly?? Why not send the legitimate bill to her for payment?? Sounds like a good cover story (lie) to me. What do you think?? My point here is that this too is unacceptable behavior in our society. I therefore believe that the prisoners will have an easy time understanding and adjusting to Iraqi society and correspondingly the Iraqi's will have an easier time understanding and absorbing our prisoners (i.e. no societal adjustments by Iraq required). Besides, this will be a new start for our prisoners as well as the Arab culture. Everyone should have an opportunity at a fresh start. Would you agree??

4. Long Run Benefits for Iraqi and Arab Society - By making our prisoners the new Iraqi citizens, Iraqi (and Arab) culture will permanently change. As mentioned early tolerance will be quickly learned as well as a good dose of much needed humility. For those Iraqis (and Arabs) not interested in accepting the prisoners into their society, they will not have to travel far to send their sons and daughters to die for martyrdom. The prisoners will no doubt react swiftly to any attempts at guerilla war and social strife. Additionally, the prisoners will no doubt take Iraqi wives and start families of their own in their new homeland. This propagation of American genes into Iraqi (and Arab) culture will over time serve to reduce tensions between the two cultures. This will also serve to alleviate the concerns of the United Nations that claims we do not understand the Middle East culture. Why not mix the two cultures together?? If by chance the experiment doesn't work the prisoners and Arabs still have each other in the Middle East and not at our doorstep. This is a no lose scenario!! One additional cultural benefit will be the increased travel to Iraq of the prisoner's families from here in the states. Isn't it better for the prisoner's families to visit them when they are not behind bars?? Isn't that more moral and humane?? The additional interaction of the prisoner's families with the Iraqi culture will no doubt be a very desirable side effect and bring the two societies even closer together. Understanding, humility and tolerance will be the mutual benefit for all parties.

5. Pinning Down the Terrorist Enemy - the extremists in Iraq and our old friends Al Qaeda will not have to venture far to kill Americans. This should keep them occupied and out of mischief with the United States and our interests around the world. This can only reduce the pressure they are exerting on our strained military/police/intelligence assets. Additionally, as mentioned before, additional law enforcement assets will be freed-up to guard and patrol our shores and borders. We are very weak in those areas at this time. There will also be less stress on Israel for the same reason there will be less stress on the United States and that is the Iraqis will be occupied minding their own internal business and less likely to look outside Iraq for mischief. Less money and encouragement available for the Palestinian suicide bombers is also a benefit. Saudi Arabia too will no doubt learn a valuable lesson from this exchange. They sent us 15 of the 19 hijackers on September 11th. Now we can return the favor to them by sending our prisoners to their northern border neighbor Iraq. Remember the old Hallmark Cards sales slogan ... "when you care enough to send the very best!!"

6. American Political Benefit - There are three principle benefits here. Firstly, as mentioned before, pardoning those convicted of crimes is the sole responsibility of the executive branch of government (both federal and state). The president would not have to consult congress in order to release the prisoners. The judicial branch of government would not have the opportunity to stop the president here either.

Secondly, there is no time limit on when the president needs to release the prisoners. He could wait until after he is elected for a second term and is therefore a lame duck. Or he could use it prior to the next election in a bid to save those states that are interested millions of tax dollars. I believe many Americans are fed-up with the situation in Iraq and if the president could simultaneously reduce our military presence there and get the taxpayers additional tax relief it would be to his political advantage. But this is for him and his handlers to decide.

Thirdly, neither the states nor even the prisoners would have to be forced to accept these pardons. The president could make the program voluntary. Therefore a bleeding heart liberal governor such as Gray Davis of California would have the opportunity to denounce the program and indicate all the social ills that would befall the Iraqis and our own society. Or, he might get wise and see an opportunity to save his state some tax dollars by not having to support so many prisoners. Either way it is his choice and no downside to President Bush no matter what decision any governor makes!! Isn't that politically expedient??

7. Historical Precedence - To my knowledge four times in history prisoners have been used for external ventures. As mentioned before the British were able to relieve themselves of much of their prisoners by making a penal colony out of Australia. Australia has obviously prospered and not been permanently tarnished for the gesture on the part of the British. To the contrary, Australia is prospering and is a very diverse member of the South Pacific.

Stalin used prisoners to supplement his army during World War II. The soldiers fought bravely and contributed to the war effort. The prisoners, however, thought that they would be released after the war. However, Stalin sent them back to the gulag and this caused quite a problem with the other prisoners. It seems that there is a code of honor amongst all prisoners that you do not help your captor. This caused the worst prison uprising ever in what was called the "Bitch Wars". It was a very violent period in an otherwise very violent time. This lesson of history would not be repeated if we made the prisoners Iraqi citizens and they were not allowed to return to the United States!! During the Korean War the Chinese utilized "human wave attacks" on our lines. The Chinese soldiers used were Chiang Kai Shek's (sp.) troops that he left on the mainland in 1949 when Mao forced him to Formosa. Mao gave them a "burp" gun and made them rush the American lines in mass. Mao did not care how many of these troops he lost as he did not consider them loyal. The human wave attacks were effective and added two years to the Korean conflict and many additional American, Korean and Chinese lives were lost!! Lastly, Fidel Castro sent us his best and brightest with the Muriel Boat Lift in 1979. These were prisoners and mental patients that Castro was all too happy to get rid of.

Although three of these four examples are from communist dictatorships, bare in mind that these regimes and the actions they took with their prisoners were highly effective. Additionally, these three communist dictatorships were long lived as compared to the prior regimes that existed in their respective countries before their arrival and no regime since their departure has endured as long. In fact, Castro is still in power today!! Innovation and using your head and all available assets seems to ensure longevity. Maybe we could learn from these lessons??

In closing - it is inconceivable that the present administration of George Bush or any other that could be electable in 2004 will take this advice of using our prisoners in this manner. It is a shame as the present war that we are in is by everyone's analysis unconventional. Using prisoners in this manner is also unconventional by our standards but who would have conceived of two planes being flown into the World Trade Center only two short years ago??

--Ken Jackman

Special thanks to Ken for personally sending me this gem...I can't wait to see what sort of knee-jerk Liberal "hate-mail" I get in response to this one!