Neocons like to strut around and talk about great countries throughout time that have been willing to do what it takes militarily to achieve their goals. They hold up Israel as the modern example of a nation willing to strike out at its enemies without caring what the rest of the world thinks.

Iraq -- and then Syria and Iran -- were supposed to demonstrate similar American prowess and determination to "do what it takes" to reshape the world -- except our military might is so immense and overpowering that we would not need to resort to the brutality of conquerors throughout history. We would have no need to lay waste to an entire city because we have missiles we can guide through a specific window in a building.

They were wrong. To win in Iraq we don't need Gen. David Petraeus. We need Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman.

Here is the formula for Ultimate Glorious Victory in Iraq and American Dominance of World Oil Supplies:

1. We drop the entire notion of nurturing a multi-ethnic democracy in Iraq. It's never going to happen.

2. We forge an alliance with the Shiite government of Nouri al-Maliki and also with Muqtada al-Sadr. They will be our new best friends and allies.

3. We forge a separate alliance with the Kurds, recognize an independent nation of Kurdistan and move 50,000 troops to permanent bases there.

4. We reach detente with Iran, normalize relations, sell them arms, upgrade their air force to match the Saudis and invite their influence in Iraq and Afghanistan. In exchange, Iran must help to crush the Taliban, bring stability to Iraq, cut off aid to Hezbollah and STFU about Israel. The Israelis are told to sit this one out.

5. We give our new Kurdish proxies the green light to annex Kirkuk and Mosul and pacify both cities as they see fit.

6. With our new Shiite allies we declare war on the Sunni population of Anbar Province. Shiite militias are incorporated into the new Iraqi Army, which is entirely Shiite with loyalty to a Shiite government. The Iraqi Army pacifies Baghdad by purging it of its Sunni population, driving thousands west toward Anbar Province.

7. Iraqi Army units backed by American troops and air power move into Anbar and ruthlessly crush Sunni opposition. Cities and villages that resist are bombed into rubble. Refugees are driven west toward Syria and Jordan and south to Saudi Arabia. The loss of life is horrendous. Condemnation from the rest of the world is loud but falls on deaf ears.

8. A Shiite government now rules over a smaller Iraq (minus Kurdistan) with the assistance of our new Iranian allies.

9. The Saudis become hysterical and launch a secret effort to acquire a nuclear deterrent (assuming they do not already have one). Eventually they cut a deal with the new reality because that's what they do best.

10. Syria, stripped of its Iranian and Hezbollah allies, sees the handwriting on the wall and reaches a peace deal with Israel.

11. We stand astride the Middle East like a Colossus. Bush is hailed as the greatest bad ass since Ghengis Khan.

12. Much of Anbar Province is in ruins. Cities have been leveled. More than a million have died. Iraqi military rule brutally crushes any hint of dissent. Maliki is the new Saddam, but he's our Saddam.

13. There would be resistance at home to such a plan, of course. But nothing in America succeeds quite like success. After the initial shock and horror, the MSM would fall into line and report on Fallujah and Ramadi being liberated from al Qaeda terrorists and how Iraq needs a strong leader to transition the nation to eventual democracy. American hegemony over the Middle East will be proclaimed as the dawning of a new era. Tom Friedman will be beside himself with glee.

That's it. Pretty simple really.

Victory is within our grasp -- and it would take a relatively short time to achieve it. It doesn't take as long as you might think to slaughter hundreds of thousands, as the Hutus and Tutsis demonstrated in Rwanda.

All we have to do is be willing to dispense with our national conscience and commit murder and crimes against humanity on an unprecedented scale. The price of victory would be our soul.

For the short term, America would be at the apex of its power. For the long term, the decay will have begun that would eventually lead to our collapse. As surely as Imperial Rome rotted from within, so would we. Our children would thank us; our great-grandchildren would loathe and despise us and tear down our statues.

Would America ever do such a horrible thing? Well, we've done horrible things before. We nearly annihilated our native population. We enslaved millions of Africans. We incinerated two Japanese cities. Sherman burned everything from Atlanta to Savannah. We invented excuses for war in order to seize the American Southwest, Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines. Every bit of it was excused at the time as necessary to achieve a greater good and fulfill our Manifest Destiny. And every bit of it was eventually repudiated.

There was a time when I would have said that Americans would never allow our government to take us down such a path yet again. Surely we had learned something in 220 years. But the enduring lesson of 9/11 will be that it doesn't take much to set off a national panic and a rush to exchange freedom for security.

Who could have imagined just 10 years ago that America would torture prisoners in secret prisons, wiretap without warrants and debate whether the Constitution explicitly grants a right to habeas corpus?