It is time for the Democratic Party to call for a New Plan. It’s time for an exit strategy from Iraq. Staying the current course is no longer a viable option, nor is it the morally correct thing to do.
An open letter to Democratic leaders follows… after the flip
To: Senator Harry Reid, Representative Nancy Pelosi, Governor Howard Dean, Senator Hillary Clinton, Senator John Kerry, Senator John Edwards, Senator Russ Feingold, General Wesley Clark, Senator Evan Bayh, Senator Joe Biden, Governor Tom Vilsack, Governor Mark Warner, Representative Dennis Kucinich, Senator Charles Schumer, Representative Rahm Emanuel, Senator Ted Kennedy, Representative John Conyers, President Bill Clinton, President Jimmy Carter, Vice President Al Gore
Dear Democratic Leaders:
It is time for the Democratic party to speak with one voice on the issue of the Iraq War. We know that the original rationale offered by President Bush turned out to be wrong, that going to war was a forgone conclusion and intelligence was cherry-picked to make the case. We also know that the current policy is failing: security continues to deteriorate, the country has become a breeding ground for anti-American terrorists and that, because of — not in spite of — our occupation, the chances of a real democracy emerging grow dimmer by the day. It is time for the Democratic party to call for a New Plan. It’s time for an exit strategy from Iraq.
There are two arguments for this course of action.
1. Strategic
On July 10 a British memo, leaked to the London newspaper Mail On Sunday, claimed British and Americans plan to draw down coalition forces in Iraq by more than half in 2006. On July 27, General Casey, the commander of American forces in Iraq, said "some fairly substantial reductions" of U.S. troop levels would come in the spring and summer of 2006. Just last Friday, in an Op Ed in the Washington Post, Henry Kissenger — a man with more experience extracting oneself from intractable conflicts than perhaps any other person in America — writes of the Iraqi withdrawal strategy as a forgone conclusion.
Of course, Bush has publicly stated in no uncertain terms that we must stay the course and complete the mission. Most recently he put it this way "Pulling troops out early would betray the Iraqis. My position has been clear. Therefore, the position of this government is clear. As Iraqis stand up, we’ll stand down." This leaves the door wide open for the administration to hang another Mission Accomplished sign on an aircraft carrier and begin troop drawdowns whenever it is politically convenient.
If the last 6 years have taught us anything, it’s that today’s Republican party will do whatever it takes to get elected. With domestic support for this war below 40%, troop drawdowns will begin as the 2006 midterms approach. As that happens, you can bet we’ll see campaign events, television commercials and GOP Reps on each and every local news station touting the successful mission in Iraq and welcoming our troops home. Of course, the mission will not, in fact, be accomplished. Many, if not most, of the homeward bound will be replaced by others. The current path will never lead to success.
2. Moral
At least, not success as we in the progressive community define it: a stable, peaceful, independent, democratic Iraq, a safer, robust democracy here at home and an absolute minimum of further American casualties.
Let’s be honest. The occupation of Iraq is going very poorly. Things are not getting better, they are getting worse. Our occupation is not advancing our stated goal of bringing democracy to the Iraqi people; rather, it is fueling the insurgency by stoking anti-American feelings in the populace. And, despite the sad fact that their primary targets are Iraqi citizens, empirical evidence suggests that the insurgency enjoys the popular support it does because of the occupation and it’s practices.
Our Government, in our names, took on the invasion of Iraq. Whether we supported the war or voted for the President or not, our entire society is now responsible for the welfare of two groups: The men and women of the American and coalition armed forces stationed in Iraq and the Iraqi people themselves. It is our moral obligation to give our best effort to ensure the welfare of both of these groups.
A Democratic Plan
We must not, as our President suggests, stay the present course in Iraq. That would be a grave mistake. A new plan must be formulated, one which will allow Iraqis to take charge of their own affairs as quickly as possible.
The Democratic position should be simple, direct and to the point: The current path has failed. A new plan must be developed and implemented immediately. While the details of this plan should be formulated by the President, the new plan must be based around the following three tenets:
- An unequivocal statement that the United States plans no permanent military presence in Iraq.
- A plan to commit the resources necessary to expedite the training of 140,000 Iraqi security forces within one year’s time.
- A withdrawal timeline contingent on hitting Iraqi security training targets.
When the President fails to act on developing a new plan, Democrats must continue to remind him and the American people what is at stake and what the party’s position is: We need a new plan. When, inevitably, the New Republican message machine ratchets up the “weak on defense” rhetoric, this simple refrain will undercut any shred of remaining credibility they might have had: If it’s broke, Fix it.
For those who are still too entrenched in Beltway common wisdom; those who still believe that the occupation in Iraq is a force for stability; those who still maintain that staying the current course will lead to a successful conclusion, I would like to point you to the Project on Defense Alternatives briefing memo 400 days and out: A strategy for resolving the Iraq impasse. The PDA Plan is a thoughtful, evidence-based analysis which provides a realistic blueprint for extricating ourselves from this senseless war. Couple the PDA Plan with Major Paul Hackett’s plan for one-to-one training of Iraqi security forces and you have the makings of a New Plan, a plan with our best shot at a successful outcome. It provides an opportunity to yet salvage the chance for the creation of a safe, modern democratic society in Iraq.
This new Democratic message will resonate with the American public — an American public increasingly skeptical of this war. But even if it wouldn’t, even if it alienated voters and lost elections, it is still the morally correct thing to do. On this issue the stakes are just too high to take any other position. Failure to act makes you, the Democratic party, just as culpable as the reckless Republican administration who got us into this.
Sincerely,
A concerned American citizen