I am very concerned about the recent PR tool she has released for getting out of Iraq.
From her campaign I learned that the intent is to offer a legislative agenda to support withdrawal. A legislative agenda is NOT .. however a plan.
The plan, as written, is very poor. It offers the usual solution of new alliances. Fair enough. BUT, there is no way of knowing what such alliances will look like or when they will be created. Nor, kn discussing the concept of allianaces, does the "plan" consider such critical players as Egypt and India.
Then the plan goes on the propose that we replace the US presence with a peace corps style operation. How these workers will be protected is a mystery.
Worse yet, there is no sense of contingency planning .. e.g. how a complete withdrawal would protect the Kurds or keep Syria out of central Iraq.
A vague faith in the good outcome of diplomacy fails to answer the most critical question ...
"is this the same sort of faith based behavior GW Bush would pursue?"The "faith" may be different but isn't the level of naiveté similar? Why would I have any more faith that an undescribed diplomatic effort would lead to "success" then I id in GW Bush's "plan" that the Iraqis would welcome us with copies of the US Constitution waved high in the air?
I am sure this is inadvertent, BUT the potential for Reichert to make this a campaign issue is obvious.
Darcy needs to make it VERY clear that this in NOT a plan, it is a legislative agenda to support a plan.
2 comments:
Steve - You're wrong in your assessment. This is a plan. Not a stunt, or a PR tool. Of course legislation is needed to back the plan, and the proposals, and the document details bills already in existence that address various points of the plan.
I completely disagree with you that the plan is poorly written. Maybe you wanted it to include a plethora of typos - like your posting?
Nothing in the plan excludes partnering with nations such as Egypt or India.
This is a framework for moving the discussion forward. No plan can be set in stone - all plans must be flexible when the realities of a change in situations requires it.
Daniel:
1, I apologize for my horrid typing .. I have considered registering under the ADD but I do not think the gov. supports bloggers?
2. as for the rest, I hope you are right as I supprt DB. I would love to be wrong and welcome your or anyone's comments .
One reason Bush is a failure is he had no well defined goal beyond something called victory. This plan, other than setting the goal of a peaceful Iraq, is almost as vague.
The plan does claim we have no choice but to remove all our troops. There certainly is an argument for that POV and .. while I disagree .. that CAN be taken as a well defined goal.
But, to get to this goal one needs to suggest something better than the vague idea that some sort of diplomacy .. will lead to "success." What are the goals of the diplomacy? Who would be invited to the table? China> Europe? Venezuela?
THEN, the plan goes on to propose a sort of Marshall plan cum US supported WPA and Peace Corps. I like this idea and there are strong elements there BUT again no concept of who is going to protect the Iraqis and the Americans once US forces depart. If implimented with this little thought, all we would achieve is funneling more dollars nto corrupt Iraqis while good people get killed by thugs.
I could go on. Every serious discussion I have read of alternative plans for Iraq includes a discussion of how to stabilize the straights of Hormuz AND the Indian Ocean. Currently the uS dominates, of course, but Iran, India, and China have all expressed the intent to militarize the basin and .. presumably .. rival the US fleet. While that might be a good thing, lets hope it is not done with acts of war .. cold or hot.
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So, I challenge you to tell me where in this "plan" there is a plan for how we would withdraw the troops without tmassacres of friendly Iraqis, US losses as the last combat forces leave, incursions by Turkey, Iran, Syria, el Qaeda and .. for all I know the bloods and crips.
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