Naive Iraq Plan

  *  From the mid '90s until Bush's war began, I entertained a
carrot/stick initiative to limit the harm done by the Iraqi government
and by us in that area. My stick might have faced legal impediments,
and my carrot might have seemed soft on murderous tyrants.
  *  According to this reverie, Saddam and his closest ministers would be
told secretly that their history of fratricide and tyranny placed them outside
the pale of sovereign-leader protection. As a carrot, Iraq would be
offered: cessation of no-fly-zone patrols, normalization of trade
relations and almost full restoration of sovereignty. In exchange, Iraq
would be expected to: improve human-rights performance, improve ethnic
relations, demolish offensive weapons, host an American military base on
Iraqi soil, tolerate surveillance flyovers, and host weapons inspectors
and human-rights inspectors. As a stick, Iraqi leaders would understand
that failure to comply with these expectations would result in deep
bombing of unspecified palaces, government buildings and military sites.
This initiative would be cheap, low-risk and relatively beneficial.
  *  The military base would simply be moved from Saudi soil and enlarged as needed to support operations, protect itself and be a credible threat.
Surveillance flyovers would be cheaper and less destructive than
no-fly-zone patrols. The inspectors would be from the UN. There would
be little killing and wounding of Americans and Iraqis, little
destruction and gradual restoration of Iraqi infrastructure, and
immediate economic benefits to the Iraqi people. Leadership shuffling
would likely occur as palace coups with little risk of civil war.
  *  I wonder how the cost/benefit/risk analysis of the war planners
compares to this and to what actually happened in Iraq.