They say we have no plan for leaving Iraq, what's yours?

[Philosoraptor]

Mine: Declare the war over, not won, not lost, just over, and send the troops back to their homes here in America. Why do I always get laughed at and shot down when I suggest this plan?

[Mythsaje]

1. "Hey, Iraqis. You've got a government, military forces,

your own police force (okay, so they're running around killing people, but ours is tasering students, so we can overlook that), and no more Saddam.

"Sounds like you're on your way to becoming your own country. If you don't mind, we're going to wander over here and visit some friends in Kuwait, then swing by Darfur and help out the U.N. for a few, then head on home.

"Once you get on your feet, we may send you some contractors to take care of your infrastructure problems. As long as you promise not to kill them.

"In the meantime...nice knowing you."

Seriously. We need to leave. No more of this hemming and hawing. 80% of the population thinks we're fair game. The vast majority just want us gone. Why are we still there?

Oh, yeah. Bush.

:banghead:

[The Straight Story]

2. My Plan:

We did what we said we wanted to do - ie, get Saddam and stop him from attacking us with WMD. Clinton, Gore, bush 2, all wanted Saddam out of power and saw him as a threat. We removed said threat.

Pull out, let the people there decide how they want things. Ask the UN to step in and help out.

We cannot make people to be like us if they don't want to be. All it will do is lead to more and more death.

[Kiouni]

3. There is nothing funny about your

plan so i wouldn't laugh at you. Chimpy may have dragged america into an un-winnable war but we as america cannot turn our backs on the suffering others now that we can actually change the course of the war. I am not saying cut and run is bad by any means and i don't mean to use that context either. I am simply stating that the Iraqis would suffer more if we just left. My plan and hopefully many others is that of humanitarian aid. we need to build infrastructure, not children's hospitals for pr, or stupid soccer stadiums but to build something real. Build up Iraqi businesses, soup kitchens, everything to help the people while maintaining neutralness to the inevitable civil war.

we have to something, don't we?

[Philosoraptor]

4. I agree with your ideas.

After bush is gone, America should apologize for him and us, offer aid, etc., and make up for what we've done. But our bloated sense of pride and superiority won't allow a sensible solution apparently.

I believe step number one should be getting our people out of harm's way immediately.

[cornermouse]

5. Plan?

1. Have all Americans pack all personal items in boxes, addressed, and put on planes.
2. Have any wives, brides, children prepared carefully, addressed and put on planes.
3. Have all surviving military equipment packed, addressed, and put on planes.
4. Have all military personel addressed and put on planes.

No fuss. No muss.

[Hubert Flottz]

6. I voted...now it's up to the people I voted for.

[The Count]

7. I'm with Clark. get out, get the neighbors involved, get some international

authority overseeing it all, seek political vs military solution 9reinstate the food for oil thingy). Also with Randy: pass a law against war profiteering - it'll get the warmongers out in 24h!

[maine_raptor]

8. Here's what I would do.

Drive south, make a left turn at the nearest port, and get aboard the first ship heading out out of the Gulf.

We were not invited, we are not welcome, and I was taught, as a youngster, never to stay were I am not wanted.

The only thing I would leave behind is the Neo-Cons that got us there in the first place. Let the Iraqis handle them.

[radfringe]

9. why is it up to the Dems to come up with a plan?

Dems are not commander and chief, Dems are not the president. Dems did not order the invasion. Technically, Dems aren't even control of the congress until January, and the Dems have to come up with a plan which bush is going to ignore anyways?

[Philosoraptor]

10. it's a taunt

they had such a hard on for war, now that it's all fucked up they want to put the blame on us. We didn't even want it, now it's up to fix it, and we'll be blamed for not being quick about it.

[radfringe]

11. :looking sheepish:

oh... my oopsie.. heeheehee... am I forgiven?

[Philosoraptor]

12. great toon by the way

[radfringe]

18. thanks -- tomorrow's toon features

bush reviewing Iraq plans.. *snicker*

[dmosh42]

13. Basically, most people voted for your plan....

That is why it's kind of goofy for the media to be asking what the Dems have for a plan. The legislative branch does not 'execute' a plan! This was a mandate for this wacked out administration to listen to the people, and execute a deployment out of Iraq. And now what we hear from the neo-cons is that the people only wanted the war to be carried out with another strategy. I do remember the Vietnam thing going on for over ten years, so maybe impeachment should be re-considered!

[rman]

14. we do have a plan,

Kucinich does anyway: replace US troops with UN troops over the course of 6 months, starting in december.

[notadmblnd]

15. An apology... withdrawl of troops and payment to compensate

the Iraqi people for their loses.

[jody]

16. Orderly retreat over 12 months leaving three autonomous regions with

one or more U.N. military enclaves to provide each region with logistical support and limited air power to prevent major battles between the three regions.

Let each region create and train its internal militia and law enforcement forces. They’ve been doing that for over 3,000 years.

[jmowreader]

21. There are four problems with your plan

Problem 1: If you use the historical boundaries of Shia, Sunnis and Kurds as the dividing lines for your autonomous regions, you're left with the Sunnis landlocked in the middle of the country.

Problem 2: The serious oil deposits in Iraq are in the Shia sector and the Kurdish sector.

Problem 3: Baghdad is territory coveted by all three sects in Iraq, and it's in the Sunni region.

and Problem 4: The LAST thing Turkey, who has its own Kurdish problem, wants is an independent Kurdistan on its southern border.

None of these things are insurmountable, but it will take strong leadership from the country that broke Iraq in the first place (that being the US) to put things right again.

[jody]

22. I understand your points but the impediments you cite are less daunting than the almost

certain continued bloodbath if * stays the course.

IMO a strong central Iraqi government will not work because the Shia will control it and true to ME tradition get even for past abuses by the Sunni.

[jmowreader]

23. I won't make you check the archives, but...

I've been recommending essentially the same thing YOU are recommending since...well, since the quagmire began.

So we're on pretty much the same sheet of music--except that you're playin' guitar and I the drums because someone has to play guitar and my guitar playing sucks.

It is very obvious that the first problem--access to the Persian Gulf--is very solvable. They need to declare the southernmost 5km and the westernmost 2km of what's now Iraq to be a neutral trade zone. We can run oil pipelines in it, we can run highways in it, we can even put falafel stands or whatever the Iraqis like to eat out in it.

Another problem is making sure the Sunnis have SOMETHING to fall back on because they won't have oil resources. I believe we may have to revert to George Carlin's description of a US-led war: run in, free some people and whip a little industry on them. Iraqis aren't stupid. They can do most any task, so long as they think someone won't drop a Katyusha rocket through the bathroom ceiling for doing it. And since George Bush broke Iraq, it's George Bush's duty to find an industry that will build some plants in Sunni Iraq.

Baghdad also needs to be declared a neutral zone. Make it part of all three countries--maybe declare the roads to Baghdad to be neutral territory. Something.

This brings us to the worst problem to solve: the Kurds. Turkey will probably start a war to fend off an Iraqi Kurdistan, because they have their own Kurd problem. This one will require a Turkey expert to solve.

[madmom]

17. Madmoms SO's plan

Drive everything north and begin to establish the democratic republic of Kurdistan.

[elocs]

19. Even Feingold's withdrawal proposal of August 2005 would have taken over a year.

His plan would have had the troops out by December of this year. This has to be an orderly withdrawal and not a bug-out like Vietnam. Scenes of that would certainly be used against us in 2008. I would think it is all a moot point anyhow since Bush will never withdraw troops. I think it is more likely that he would increase troop levels in a vain attempt to "win".

Democrats do need a plan even if they could never impose it other than to cut off the funds for the war. It is not enough to simply be against things. I think the American people expect more of us.
Ultimately, if we withdraw from Iraq next year, or the year after, or the year after that, the result will be the same--chaos and carnage until the Iraqis sort out their own future and destiny, so we need to be prepared for it. After the British left India in 1948 it took time for the people there to sort things out for themselves. There simply cannot be a third party or parties to babysit Iraq for the next century. And we should pay war reparations when we get out because we did attack a sovereign nation.

[brokensymmetry]

20. My plan? Cut. Run. Impeach.

Call it victory, loss - or a banana. We're wasting
lives and treasure, and we cannot afford either.

As for those responsible - impeach them. Remove them
from office. Send them to the Hague.

[spanone]

24. Get Out Now. Not Tomorrow, Not the Day After....NOW.

Let Mr. Bush* live with the consequences of PRE EMPTIVE WAR. Not the next president.

[philosophie_en_rose]

25. Declare Bush the Emperor of Iraq. Send him and all neocons to the promised land.

Withdraw our troops. Let Bush accomplish his mission. :)