Update [2005-8-18 11:28:25 by Madman in the Marketplace]: Senator Feingold’s Press Release
joyful shouts from Liberal Street Fighter
Found at USA Today & the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal, through the Xoff Files:
Feingold seeks troop withdrawal
Sen. Russ Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat, will call Thursday for the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq by Dec. 31, 2006.
Feingold, who is exploring a run for the presidency in 2008, told U.S. News: “I believe I am the first senator [to set a deadline]. It says: Here is the date by which we ought to finish the mission.”
One of our finest Senators has once again shown that he has the integrity and vision to speak the truth while many of the other leaders of the Democratic Party still bang the drums of war.
Even this June, when Feingold introduced a resolution in Senate that called on the president to clarify the mission in Iraq and lay out “a plan and timeframe for accomplishing that mission,” the senator did not call for a deadline for withdrawing troops.
Back then, Feingold said he was not dictating “deadlines or dates certain . . . because drawing up timeframes is best and most appropriately left to the Administration, in consultation with military leaders.”
Now, however, Feingold has changed his mind and believes a deadline is necessary.
“I offered a resolution and tried to engage colleagues and asked the president to give us a vision,” he said. “The president has simply refused to give us a mission or timeframe to bring the troops home.”
The USA Today story goes on to quote the Senator on the timidity of many of the other elected officials in the Democratic Party:
“I call what I am doing breaking the taboo,” Feingold said. “The senators have been intimidated and are not talking about a timeframe. We have to make it safe to go in the water and discuss this. A person shouldn’t be accused of not supporting troops just because we want some clarity on our mission in Iraq.”
While Feingold is aware some will accuse him of playing into the hands of the insurgents and strengthening terrorism, he says the Iraq war has made America less and not more safe.
“The president’s policy in Iraq has played into the hands of the terrorists,” he said. “Iraq is now the principal training ground for terrorists.”
The Journal Sentinal quotes Senator Feingold further:
“The situation is becoming more and more untenable because of a lack of a clear plan to finish the task and leave,” said Feingold in a telephone interview while he traveled between listening sessions in northern Wisconsin.
Feingold said he planned to put out a public proposal Thursday on the issue.
The Bush administration and even some critics of the war have argued that setting target dates for the withdrawal of troops would be artificial and embolden insurgents in Iraq.
Feingold said he rejected that argument because he was convinced that the indefinite presence of troops and the lack of a withdrawal plan fueled the insurgency.
Feingold said a deadline for full withdrawal — he proposed Dec. 31, 2006 — should be flexible and subject to changing conditions. But he contended that setting even a target date would “help us to undermine the recruiting efforts and unity of the insurgents, encourage Iraq ownership of the transition process … and reassure the American people our Iraq policy is not directionless.”
It is time for the party to differentiate itself from the war-mongering Republicans, and hopefully truly progressive leaders like Senator Feingold can move out ahead of the enabling warhawks that have been running our party for too long, helping the Republicans squander our public funds on death, destruction and war profiteering while our infrastructure here continues to crumble.
More and more, I really hope that we can all say Russ for President in 2008.
Russ photo from a column by John Nichols column in the Capitol Times
I’ve always liked Russ, but this seals the deal for me. Iraq is the most important issue facing Democrats and will be the deciding factor in the midterms. It’s great to see a major Democrat standing up on this.
How else to look at this statement, made tonight?
Solidarity.
I have always thought that Feingold was our best hope – even while I LONG for the day I can truly support a progressive woman. As a pre-emptive strike, I’ll say that I get really sick of hearing people say that we can’t support Russ because of his divorces. That is such nonsense in so many ways – but especially considering that the Republican currently leading in the polls – Guliani – has exactly the same history.
And I think anyone who starts talking clearly about what to do in Iraq will get plenty of attention. Most Americans are sick of the situation and want someone to talk solutions – even if they are not perfect.
I’d love to see Russ adopt the following quote from MLK as his campaign focus:
“Cowardice asks the question, ‘Is it safe?’ Expediency asks the question, ‘Is it politic?’ But conscience asks the question, ‘Is it right?’ And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but because conscience tells one it is right.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.
I’m curious to see if he gets much traction from the formal announcement later today. Not much response this morning to the pre-announcements.