It’s non-binding. Many people are against it. We don’t have the right to force
anything on the Iraqis. However, it’s more important to get something done in
Iraq so we can get out, while leaving some structure behind that matches the country’s actual political and social make up. It passed 72-43. The idea is to divide Iraq into three sections: Kurd, Sunni, and Shia. Here’s the petition.
I stand with Senators Joe Biden (D-DE), Sam Brownback (R-KS), Barbara Boxer
(D-CA), John Kerry (D-MA), Bill Nelson (D-FL), Chuck Shumer (D-NY), Barbara
Mikulski (D-MD), Blanche Lambert Lincoln (D-AR), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Arlen
Specter (R-PA), Gordon Smith (R-OR), and Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-TX) in calling
for a political solution in Iraq that allows to draw down troops without leaving
a bloodbath behind.I urge Congress to pass the Biden-Brownback-Boxer amendment to create a federal
system in Iraq, as their Constitution provides, that gives each region of
the country control over the daily lives of its citizens, and securing the
support of the United Nations and Iraq’s neighbors for this plan.The President has clung to the idea that a strong central government will
emerge in Iraq that will pull the country together for five years.It’s not working.
You can huff and puff and talk about “no residual troops” in Iraq
attempting to make redeployment the only important subject in the Iraq debate. However, it doesn’t answer the
question about what happens if we leave and behind us the Iraqis unwind, not only because we shouldn’t have been there in the first place, but also because we didn’t leave behind the political means for them to maneuver out of what they never asked for in
the beginning. Yes, as badly as I want out of Iraq I believe we have a moral obligation to leave
some political structure that follows reality on the ground behind; a way through the mess Bush has created
through his incompetence, while the Republicans backed every disastrous decision no matter
how bad it got. We simply can’t hang the Kurds out to dry again.
The Iraq debate right now is a lot like the Katie video above. No make-up and
bad wardrobe doesn’t make you a war correspondent. Her questions and line of dialogue out her.
Yanking troops out of Iraq, no matter how bad we want to redeploy, doesn’t
leave a political solution behind. We are the problem in Iraq, but we owe the Iraqis a game plan from which they can begin again.
Anything is better than what we’ve got right now. Biden’s non-binding resolution
isn’t going to change anything. However, it’s the first Iraqi legislation that overwhelmingly
passed that actually offers a strong signal to the White House that people are looking for a way out. It might not work, but what’s happening politically on
the ground right now certainly isn’t getting the job done.
Oh, and for the record, Obama not only skipped the Kyl-Lieberman vote (more on that a bit later), but he didn’t vote on Biden’s legislation either. Leadership in absentia. Excuse to follow. Oh, but don’t forget that speech!
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