Perhaps it is a sense of arrogance that can drive the great powers into early discussions for post war considerations. It was seen in the days before Pearl Harbor at the Atlantic Conference, and it is now becoming a topic of discussion the world over. May it be one is against or for the war in Iraq, it is going to happen. Coming to this conclusion, the following debate must be undertaken. Many countries are fearful of a truly democratic Iraq in the most volatile region of the world. Democracy in a key geographically located nation like Iraq will spark the idea of democracy in neighboring nations, with as much harm possible as good. Many countries are resisting the inevitable war, and their resistance will determine their international influence over the next 50 years, as they also can drag the international system as we know it along with them. The post war system of Iraq will also create a situation that is ideal for potentially solving the Palestinian- Israeli conflict, if the proper motivational causes are creating the system. It is this premise that America must carefully take its steps after a looming war that has yet to occur. The results of our decisions now will reflect 50 years from now, which brought about the last 50 years of politics in the region in the post World War II settlement. Our nationalist intentions must not out weigh the potential international reasons for setting up the post war system, in 50 years our national interests outside of security will be different, the goal of international peace and security will not. At the conclusion of World War II, the spread of communism led to regions of the world dominated by western money and influence to control every sphere of the world. This desire to stop communism at all costs led to populations under puppet governments to grow restless and topple their governments. The Middle East has time and time again overturned governments on strings form other nations, be it their colonial past or Cold War Superpower. A stable government in Iraq will occur when it is open it to its people and they are allowed to structure their own system. The United States has the ability to bring about a moderate pro-western government by allowing the inhabitants to decide their fate. There will be a difference between post World War II governments in the region to post Gulf War II, that being an opportunity to treat the Middle East as Europe was treated post World War II. The imperialist ideas of that time have long been dead, and now is a chance to fix one of the attitudes the region holds to the West. Not to impose but rather to guide the people through the rebuilding phase, using security as the guiding light.The post war planning also has the opportunity to place two stateless peoples in their own sovereign nations. The stage will be set to have the Kurds of the region and the Palestinians placed into their states. The long endured Palestinian-Israeli conflict has an opportunity to be solved at the conclusion of an Iraqi war. The issues are not separate but linked as one. This post war settlement that is going to occur has the ability to stabilize the entire region, if the United States and the world take the appropriate actions. Allies will inevitably be unsatisfied with whatever course of action the Untied States proceeds down. Turkey will fight a Kurdish nation every step of the way, Israel will most certainly have their differences with the same issue and the precedent it will set, and Saudi Arabia tends to loss some monarchial control once a democratic Iraq is established. A policy that is too hands on and the effects it can bring must also be avoided. The line of involvement that the United States will be walking on will be razor thin, and a failure will send the region, and possibly the whole world, into darker ciaos. However one must think of the positive ground the United States tends to gain. A democratic Iraq will be the rock centered in a tumultuous region, with the possibility of sparking democratic revolutions in Iran and other neighboring states. The Kurds spread throughout the region will have their own nation free from the oppression they have long endured. Yet most important of all, the set stage will be set to solving the biggest, most difficult and ideological conflict the modern world has ever seen, the Palestine Israeli conflict. The time gap between any Kurdish nation and a Palestinian nation must be small to keep violence at a minimal level. In an extreme perspective regional peace can be accomplished if the world acts in a true democratic sense, Power to the people, instead of Western goals driving governments. Now is the time to set the world’s most important region in a settled state of being. The time to end the turmoil is upon us and the question becomes can we step up and create the right system to have peace in the long term for the whole world. Can we limit the nationalist goals driving long term decisions for a more idealistic international peace? Now is the time that sets our Foreign Policy for the next 50 years, can we give the people their right to decide?