If You Want Peace

RICKY:
I want peace too, Isabelle. It's just that I have to try to get Mark drunk so I can ask him for a job.


ISABELLE:
I don't feel comfortable going to some chichi party.


RICKY:
It's not some chichi party. It's Lucas's swearing-in party. We won, Isabelle. We worked on this for two years. Lucas won, we have a Democratic majority. You're the one who got me into this. Don't you want to celebrate?


ISABELLE:
I want to win.


RICKY:
You already won.


ISABELLE:
We won the election. We haven't changed anything yet. The voters wanted a new Iraq policy and all we have is mush. The Democrats aren't going to do anything unless we push them.


RICKY:
I'm going to be pushing them. That's why I'm going to the party. I'm going to be pushing up against them all night.


ISABELLE:
Ricky, wake up. White aides can't dance.


RICKY:
I'll get them to dance with me.


ISABELLE:
They can barely hum. No one with rhythm is allowed on Capitol Hill. Two years in D.C. and you've learned nothing.


RICKY:
I've learned that if you want to get a job, you have to know people. And I have to get to know Mark.


ISABELLE:
You're already wearing his underwear.


RICKY:
It was one kiss, Isabelle.


ISABELLE:
He's the assistant to the deputy advance guy. What do you think he's going to do, make you the lead speechwriter?


RICKY:
These are our guys. We campaigned for them. They've barely taken office. Jesus Christ, give them a chance.


ISABELLE:
There's no time for that. There's a war on. And we're not going to end it drinking wine from a plastic cup.


RICKY:
He's a U.S. Congressman. You want him to drink it out of the bottle?


ISABELLE:
I want him to do something. That's why I joined the Peace Caucus. It's a group of campaign workers who are pushing the Democrats to sign on to our plan for peace in Iraq.


RICKY:
Fine. Join. It's not going to do any good, but go ahead.


ISABELLE:
If we don't do it, who else will?


RICKY:
No one's going to do it. The Democrats aren't going to stick their necks out on Iraq. They don't know what to do any more than anyone else does. If we leave right away, they'll be a bloodbath. That's what everybody has been saying for years and that's what people think.


ISABELLE:
That's not what the voters think. They don't believe that military victory is possible and they want to see us doing something else.


RICKY:
Isabelle, you're 25 years old. You have no military experience. A year ago, you thought a Sunni was a breakfast food.


ISABELLE:
It was the Kurds. I was talking about the Kurds.


RICKY:
Yes I know. Isabelle knows everything. I suppose you think you're smarter than Steny Hoyer?


ISABELLE:
Actually, I do, yes.


RICKY:
Fine. What's the plan.


ISABELLE:
We have to change the politics of Iraq. No justice, no peace. We have to give people a reason to put down their weapons. They have to have an economy that works for them or they'll keep scapegoating each other with more revenge killings.


RICKY:
Which means what?


ISABELLE:
Which means we have to do four things, all at the same time. Announce that there will be no permanent U.S. bases in Iraq.


RICKY:
What good is that going to do?


ISABELLE:
As long as we have bases, we're an occupying force and we're there to steal their oil. That's what they think and that's what the rest of the world thinks.


RICKY:
How is that going to change anything?


ISABELLE:
Item 2. End the corporate war profiteering by the Bush and Cheney crony companies. Pull out Haliburton, Bechtel, Custer Battles, and all the rest of them.


RICKY:
Well yuh, of course. Haliburton is a total suck-job.


ISABELLE:
Thank you. And we're paying them. We're still paying them. If the Democratic Party can't take a stand against war profiteering, we have no Democratic Party.


RICKY:
Well every Democrat would support that.


ISABELLE:
Yes they would. But instead of private contractors, we have to make generous reconstruction grants for public works and public service jobs to all locally elected governments all over Iraq. They need to see their elected governments doing something. They need jobs. They need electricity and clean water and hospitals and schools. And they can't wait for the Baghdad government to get its act together.


RICKY:
How can Iraqis get to work when the streets aren't safe?


ISABELLE:
They have to get to work because they need to feed their kids. If they're willing to take jobs as policemen with targets on their backs, why wouldn't they do construction work or teach school or fix the power lines?


RICKY:
So what about our troops?


ISABELLE:
Our troops come home. And we thank them for their service. But it has to be part of a negotiated settlement with the national government of Iraq. We've said all along that we would leave if they asked us to leave. And now it's time for them to ask us to leave. If the prime minister kicks out the Americans, he'll be a big hero all over his country and people will actually respect him.


RICKY:
So that's all he has to do is say leave?


ISABELLE:
No, there has to be a negotiated settlement. The prime minister asks all the warring parties to come to the table. The Mahdi army, the Sunni insurgents, everybody. If they don't come to the table, their interests won't be considered and they won't have any chance of scoring any reconstruction money. But even if they don't all participate, we have the talks anyway. We tell everybody at the table we won't be part of a civil war, we won't support revenge killings and we won't support a government that allows ethnic cleansing. We're leaving. If they're willing to declare a cease fire, we'll be generous with reconstruction grants to local elected governments and we'll leave on a schedule they agree to so there won't be a power vacuum. If they don't agree or they try to hold up the works, we're out of there and we leave them without anything.


RICKY:
Wow. You really are smarter than Steny Hoyer. You should be working for Lucas.


ISABELLE:
No, I want them to hire you. But I'm going to bring my clipboard to the party.


RICKY:
You're coming? Awesome. Wear that bitching yellow thing.


ISABELLE:
I will. Everybody who refuses to dance with me has to sign up for the Peace Caucus.


RICKY:
Excellent. But Mark is mine, okay?