Start U.S. Iraq withdrawal in 4-6 months: Democrats

[ProSense]

Start U.S. Iraq withdrawal in 4-6 months: Democrats

25 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats, who won majorities in the U.S. Congress in last week's elections, said on Sunday they will push for a phased withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq to begin in four to six months.

"The first order of business is to change the direction of Iraq policy," said Sen. Carl Levin (news, bio, voting record), a Michigan Democrat who is expected to be chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee in the new Congress.

Levin, on ABC's "This Week," said he hoped some Republicans would emerge to join Democrats and press the administration of President George W. Bush to tell the Iraqi government that U.S. presence was "not open-ended."

Bush has insisted that U.S. troops would not leave Iraq until the Iraqis were able to take over security for their country.

"We need to begin a phased redeployment of forces from Iraq in four to six months," Levin said.

Speaking on the same program, Sen. Joseph Biden (news, bio, voting record), a Delaware Democrat who is expected to head the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he supported Levin's proposal for a withdrawal.

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Kerry-Feingold is still the best plan and the election gave it momentum

[Binka]

1. BRING THEM HOME

Kick:kick:

[StraightDope]

2. It's about time!!!

I wish that * and the gang would realize that the best solution is a pull out, and a partitioning of Iraq between Sunni, Shi'a, and Kurds. Somehow, I don't think that it's going to happen.

[wisteria]

3. They are speaking of doing some of the very things Kerry pushed

for way back in October-05 through June-06.

[ProSense]

4. Exactly! Tiime for withdrawal! n/t

[rockymountaindem]

5. I'll bet Kerry won't get any credit for this, however,

because some forces within the party seem bent on marginalizing him (gee, I wonder why...) and because others just sit there with their hands in their ears screaming "la la la, I can't hear you" because they're stuck in 2004.

[ProSense]

6. At least the American public's voice will be heard! n/t

[D_kelsmith]

7. 4-6 month withdrawal from Iraq is not wise

I understand what Levin is saying, and I understand how displeased the American people are with the current state of things in Iraq presently. Our reason for going into Iraq is now irrelevant by operational standards, and to pull out now would be a disaster. The body count would be MUCH higher. At the present time, there is sectarian violence that has not quite escalated into civil war, but a little time, and with no intervention it could reach the level of genocide. I hope the Demcorats realize that people voted them in not only for an immediate change, but to also set in motion events that will make our world better in the years to come. I hate to say it, but we need a new direction and more autonomy among our ground commanders in order to win this thing. Just my opinion though.

[JudyM]

9. I wouldn't asume that's all there is to the plan...

This is likely more well-thought-out than just a naked deadline. I would assume,rather, that there is to be some sort of groundwork laid during that time period that will mitigate those issues.

Welcome to DU...

[gully]

10. What is wise?

I await your suggestions.

[D_kelsmith]

13. Suggestions: In my humble opinion

I think that we ought to go with the troop levels that General Shinseki suggested and ultimately got fired for. We need to be an "Occupation Force" for no less than a year without trying to hand things over. We need to get a better understanding of tribal discord before we proceed with bringing in "Democracy". Our idea of Democracy and popular will is always going to be trumped by tribal and religious affiliation. Iraqi's do not think of themselves as a "country" like we do here in the States. The priority for the average Iraq goes in this order due to their psychology. Self, Family (Which includes extended cousins), tribe, sect, religion, region, then Iraq. There is little deviation from that order. We need to bring the Imam's in....even the nutcases who say "Death to America", and we need to find out what it is that will make them happy and not preach Fatwas of hate to destroy other sects, tribes, what have you. Then we have to be able to back away and appreciate "order" in their country as something vastly opposed to what we think will be ideal. In the end state, unless we do like the Romans and force our religion and values on them under pain of death, (which I would never advocate) they will always object to the government that we have set up.

[noamnety]

8. What's going to change in 4 to 6 months?

Load them on planes and bring them home. Now.

[Recursion]

11. I wish it were that simple

You can't just remove 200,000 personnel from a hostile theater overnight.

1. You have to plan it and this takes time. Yes, people will die while it's being planned, but as this war has shown, more people end up dying if you don't plan it right in the first place.

2. You can't just all pick up and go at once. For the safety of the departing troops you have to do it in an orderly fashion with proper security. If everyone just picked up and got on a convoy they'd take very very heavy casualties leaving.

3. Not everybody will be going home, sadly. The government will demand that some stay on as advisors, at least. And there will be military guarding the embassy. And the kurds largely want us to stay where we are in the north (tangential DU question: what level of troop commitment in the north are you willing to accept?)

4. We need to manage the fall of Baghdad better than we managed the fall of Saigon. I do believe that as troops leave the violence in many areas will decrease. And there is no equivalent of Ho Chi Minh, or even of North Vietnam, at the table here; and our leaving Iraq would be a fatal blow to Al Qaeda in Iraq (expect several hundred foreign mujuhadin to wash up dead in the Tigris the next day, literally). So Baghdad's "fall" will be to itself -- what we have to avoid is a repeat of the looting and chaos we saw in '03. This takes working with the police (yes, the same police that are torturing and killing people daily) and getting them to coopt the militias into a de facto partition (yes, this will involve death and forced evacuation -- that needs to happen before we leave).

We're looking for the least ugly outcome we can get from this: as I read it, that's an Iran-allied single state of Iraq with a nominally federal but factually autonomous Kurdish north with unspoken but universally understood security guarantees from the American troops still there. This Kurdistan will not have a flag or a seat on the UN (to keep Turkey and Iran from invading it) and will probably have its voice in the Iraqi government diminished to make seats for Sunni Arabs, again under the aegis of the unspoken security guarantee from the US.

To quote Full Metal Jacket, it's a big shit sandwich and we're all going to have to take a bite. But the sooner we get that bite down, the better and less costly it will be.

[civildisoBDence]

12. Democrats should call for an immediate escalation of the war, increasing troop strength sharply...

bacause that way, DUHbya will immediately demand the opposite.

Reverse psychology, like you'd use with any spoiled child.

Newsprism

[laugle]

14. We need a political solution--isn't it obvious?

But don't ask me how--with all the secrecy going on, I don't have a clue.....