Posted on 11/26/2005 6:45:53 PM PST by HAL9000
The White House on Saturday for the first time claimed ownership of an Iraq withdrawal plan, arguing that a troop pullout blueprint unveiled this past week by a Democratic senator was "remarkably similar" to its own.It also signaled its acceptance of a recent US Senate amendment designed to pave the way for a phased US military withdrawal from the violence-torn country.
The statement by White House spokesman Scott McClellan came in response to a commentary published in The Washington Post by Joseph Biden, the top Democrat of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in which he said US forces will begin leaving Iraq next year "in large numbers."
According to Biden, the United States will move about 50,000 servicemen out of the country by the end of 2006, and "a significant number" of the remaining 100,000 the year after.
The blueprint also calls for leaving only an unspecified "small force" either in Iraq or across the border to strike at concentrations of insurgents, if necessary.
Less than two weeks ago, McClellan blasted Democratic Representative John Murtha, saying that by calling for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq, the congressman was "endorsing the policy positions of Michael Moore," a stridently anti-war Hollywood filmmaker.
Biden's ideas, relayed first in a November 21 speech in New York, however, got a much friendlier reception.
Even though President George W. Bush has never publicly issued his own withdrawal plan and criticized calls for an early exit, the White House said many of the ideas expressed by the senator were its own.
In the statement, which was released under the headline "Senator Biden Adopts Key Portions Of Administration's Plan For Victory In Iraq," McClellan said the Bush administration welcomed Biden's voice in the debate.
"Today, Senator Biden described a plan remarkably similar to the administration's plan to fight and win the war on terror," the spokesman went on to say.
He added that as Iraqi security forces gain strength and experience, "we can lessen our troop presence in the country without losing our capability to effectively defeat the terrorists."
McClellan said the White House now saw "a strong consensus" building in Washington in favor of Bush's strategy in Iraq.
The Biden plan calls for preparatory work to be done in the first six months of next year, ahead of the envisaged pullout. It includes:
- forging a compromise among Iraqi factions, under which the Sunnis must accept that they no longer rule Iraq and Shiites and Kurds admit them into a power-sharing arrangement;
- building Iraq's governing capacity;
- transferring authority to Iraqi security forces;
- establishing a contact group of the world's major powers to become the Iraqi government's primary international interlocutor.
The White House statement also embraced a Senate amendment to a defense authorization bill overwhelmingly passed by the Senate on November 15 that asked the administration to make next year "a period of significant transition to full Iraqi sovereignty" thereby creating conditions "for the phased redeployment of United States forces from Iraq."
The measure was largely seen is a reprimand to the Bush administration often accused of lacking a viable strategy in Iraq.
But the White House insisted again the Senate was reading from its own playbook.
"The fact is that the Senate amendment reiterates the president's strategy in Iraq," the statement said.
The Bush administration has been steadily moving towards a drawdown of US troops in Iraq and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last week spoke of a reduction in the US presence for the first time.
Her remarks contrasted sharply with her refusal last month to tell a Senate panel whether US troops would be out in a decade, acknowledging that insurgent attacks would continue "for quite a long time."
And exactly what is the french press smoking now?
So what's the deal? The Republicans co-opt every plan the Democrats have?
This will surely satisfy critics!
Is there anybody on this board that is not in favor of bringing home the troops (except maybe keeping a base with the Iraqi's consent) under the right circumstances?
But we need to focus on those circumstances and not the timing of the withdrawal. It could be in a year or two or it could be in ten years - the key thing is to establish a friendly stable democracy capable of defending itself from enemies internal and external.
John Lennon was once asked how long the Beatles would last and said something like "if I say five years, I'll be lucky if it's 5 minutes." We should be at least that smart.
Makes you wonder, don't it?
I hope AFP is lying, unless the troops are moved out of Iraq into Iran.
Bush is caving.
"So what's the deal? The Republicans co-opt every plan the Democrats have?"
Let's let them keep Hillary's healthcare plan.... :)
actually I suspect this has been the Dem plan all along. They saw the writing on the wall and probably already knew the president was going to be reducing troop levels in Iraq soon so they get out front in order to make it look like they are responsible rather than the president.
I'd even settle on them moving into Syria...as a message to Iran.
Concur.
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The Warner Amendment signals attempted Vietnamization of the Global War on Terror. After Tet in 1968 a Rand study reported an NVA disaster with staggering and surprising losses, which Colonel Bui Tin of the NVA General Staff corroborated in a 1995 Wall Street Journal interview. However, the outcry from media, intellectuals and Hollywood punctuated by Cronkite’s “quagmire” sound bite and Fonda’s pledge of solidarity with the NVA encouraged North Vietnam to regard America as irresolute. The war was won a second time in 1972 when General Giap lost an entire army in his abortive invasion. A Democratic Congress intervened for final Tonkinese conquest in 1975 by then refusing to re-supply the South Vietnamese.
The Warner Amendment presages consideration of like elegant foreign policies re-defining national interests and creating exit strategies to ensure we can cut and run as Iraqi’s pursue a broadly representative government. The amendment portends an apathetic response similar to recent crises in Bosnia, Mozambique, Somalia, southern Iraq, Sudan, and Rwanda, which resulted in over 2 million deaths. The amendment confirms existence of a significant constituency, which would not sustain Iraqi’s who achieved interim government, elected government, and a constitutional referendum on schedule. The amendment encourages Zarqawi and bin Laden to see an irresolute America and to persevere to implement the policy in the Zawahiri/Zaqawa letter identifying Iraq as the primary battlefield for terrorist victory and for spreading the Wahhabi/Salafi heresy.
Of course, the obvious thing is that plans can be changed, according to circumstances.
Where is the Dems plan for Zarqawi to withdraw? That's what we should be asking. If they don't withdraw then kill them till they're dead and keep killing them. But that's just me.
1)"Devise plan to withdraw troops per public opinion polls and Dem pols"
2)Notify French press
Looks like the Dems are worried about a pullout plan being a big State of the Union part and want to get out in front. Combine that with another round of elections and they need to get on the winning side fast....but not give Bush any credit. Impossible.
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