-- Check this out. "People can be intimidated, but they're not going to be intimidated if there are people around like you who can go intimidate the intimidators." -- Don Rumsfeld, to Iraqi troops, 2-11-05
Posted on 11/16/2005 9:02:56 AM PST by FreeKeys
Yesterday’s overwhelming Senate vote to require detailed reporting to Congress on Iraq and make clear that the United States will not stay longer “than required” puts Iraq back on Congress’s agenda.
There is now a strong bipartisan consensus that we need an exit strategy. But yet to emerge is the content of that strategy.
We have two overriding objectives in Iraq: to facilitate a viable power-sharing agreement among Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds and to turn over responsibility for security to the Iraqis on a steady basis.
Any exit strategy must address both issues in order to leave post-Saddam Iraq in better shape than we found it, to honor the sacrifices of more than 2,000 troops and to justify the expenditure of billions of dollars.
By insisting on a series of detailed and regular reports, the Senate language puts the burden — properly — on the administration to develop an exit strategy. As this happens, several steps could be useful to clarify U.S. intentions:
• First, President Bush should state unequivocally that the United States does not seek and will not maintain permanent military bases in Iraq. Our 60-year presence in Germany and our 50-year presence in Korea rightfully make people nervous that a half-century from now American Marines will be living on a base in downtown Baghdad. President Bush should put that to rest — and make clear that U.S. policy is to leave Iraq completely.
• Second, President Bush must be explicit that we have no designs on Iraq’s precious natural resource, oil. He should state clearly that oil revenues belong to the people of Iraq and no one else. At the same time, our government should also help Iraq get the oil flowing and encourage its neighbors, like Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, to assist.
• Third, the president should redouble diplomatic efforts to get allies and partners to come into Iraq to share the burden for security and infrastructure. Internationalizing our efforts will take the target off our back and make it easier for us to leave. But it will only work if we cede control over contracts and encourage significant foreign participation in the vast work of reconstructing Iraq.
• Fourth, President Bush should ask a high-level personal envoy to focus on nothing but ironing out the political conflict among Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds. The goal is to create a viable, democratic federal government, not a weakened, balkanized state, despite the conspiracy theories of some. U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, who helped engineer the Sunni “buy-in” to the recent constitutional referendum, is a natural choice for this role, but it will mean reducing his other responsibilities.
• And fifth, we must accelerate training of Iraqi military units to operate independently. Establishing metrics and a drawdown pegged to success, as Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) has proposed, will send the unequivocal message to the Iraqi people that they must become the defenders of their own country.
President Bush and his advisers decided how and when to fight this war. They owe Congress and the American people a detailed strategy to bring our engagement in Iraq to a successful end. An exit strategy that clarifies America’s political and strategic intentions will hasten the achievement of U.S. objectives and bring our brave men and women home.
Harman, the ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee, represents California’s 36th Congressional District. She returned from her most recent visit to Iraq on Sept. 30.
Remember, Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi made it clear that he decided to disarm due to our terminating the regime in Iraq, NOT Afghanistan: "I will do whatever the Americans want because I saw what happened in Iraq, and I was afraid." And Syria has pulled out of Lebanon.
In contrast, pulling out of Germany might NOT be encouraging to our Nazi enemies, so THAT would be a better pullout to consider doing at this point in time, doncha think?
http://FreedomKeys.com/whyiraq.htm
It seems to me that it makes Germans and Koreans nervous when we talk about leaving.
-- Check this out. "People can be intimidated, but they're not going to be intimidated if there are people around like you who can go intimidate the intimidators." -- Don Rumsfeld, to Iraqi troops, 2-11-05
Yeppers...I couldn't get past her FIRST demand...no permanent bases in Iraq....
She must be smoking something to demand that....what an idiot!~
Yesterday’s overwhelming Senate vote to require detailed reporting to Congress on Iraq and make clear that the United States will not stay longer “than required” puts Iraq back on Congress’s agenda.
What's it going to take for them to understand how this works? A dirtybomb in the subway car they happen to be riding on? A plane crashing into their house? What? Ugh...
Have any of these delusional nutjobs ever tried to write "Exit Strategies" for:
Pit bull attacks
Avalanches
Bear Attacks.
Shark attacks
Tornadoes
Hippopotamus attacks
Rattlesnake attacks.
Avian Flu infestations...
Some things do not lend themselves to "Exit Strategies", otherwise, we would have the wisdom of 6000 years of civilization and wars (and presumably "exit strategies") to choose from.
We are painfully being driven to extinction by ignorant imbecile children.
Here is a strategy for exiting that some don't seem to understand. WIN THE CONFLICT BY DESTROYING THE ENEMY!
Finishing the job does not include leaving armed units of al queda on the loose.
Wimping out only encourages those fighters and they know Americans cannot stomach too much hostility and bloodshed when our troops are involved and the media is against America.
No spit.
Does anyone else find it a disgusting irony that this IDIOT is on the "Intelligence Committee"?
The 'R' amendment is pretty innocuous to me, and will simply allow the administration to make a wonderful quarterly report to the public. I really like this approach, as it will bypass the Old Media FRAUDcasters and put the "900 reports" Rummy referred to in a nice compiled format. The 'D' amendment was DANGEROUS.
Nota Bene the real BIGGIE strikeout of Levin's Paragraph (7) at the end.
Frankly, the amendment seems pretty innocuous to me, and simply allows the administration to confirm what the administration has been stating all along. --- but it will now be in a more noticeable manner:
SA 2518. Mr. WARNER (for himself and Mr. FRIST) SA 2519. Mr. LEVIN (for himself, Mr. BIDEN, Mr. REID, Mr. DODD, Mr. KERRY, Mr. FEINGOLD, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. REED, Mr. KENNEDY, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. OBAMA, and Mrs. BOXER) proposed an amendment to the bill S. 1042, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2006 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe personnel strengths for such fiscal year for the Armed Forces, and for other purposes; as follows:
At the end of title XII, add the following:
SEC. __. UNITED STATES POLICY ON IRAQ.
(a) Short Title.--This section may be cited as the ``United States Policy on Iraq Act''.
(b) Sense of Senate.--It is the sense of the Senate that, in order to succeed in Iraq--
(1) members of the United States Armed Forces who are serving or have served in Iraq and their families deserve the utmost respect and the heartfelt gratitude of the American people for their unwavering devotion to duty, service to the Nation, and selfless sacrifice under the most difficult circumstances;
(2) it is important to recognize that the Iraqi people have made enormous sacrifices and that the overwhelming majority of Iraqis want to live in peace and security;
(3) calendar year 2006 should be a period of significant transition to full Iraqi sovereignty, with Iraqi security forces taking the lead for the security of a free and sovereign Iraq, thereby creating the conditions for the phased redeployment of United States forces from Iraq;
(4) United States military forces should not stay in Iraq indefinitely any longer than required and the people of Iraq should be so advised;
(5) the Administration should tell the leaders of all groups and political parties in Iraq that they need to make the compromises necessary to achieve the broad-based and sustainable political settlement that is essential for defeating the insurgency in Iraq, within the schedule they set for themselves; and
(6) the Administration needs to explain to Congress and the American people its strategy for the successful completion of the mission in Iraq.
(c) Reports to Congress on United States Policy and Military Operations in Iraq.--Not later than 30 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and every three months thereafter until all United States combat brigades have redeployed from Iraq, the President shall submit to Congress an unclassified report on United States policy and military operations in Iraq. Each report shall include the following: Each report shall include, to the extent practicable, the following unclassified information:
(1) The current military mission and the diplomatic, political, economic, and military measures, if any, that are being or have been undertaken to successfully complete or support that mission, including:
(A) Efforts to convince Iraq's main communities to make the compromises necessary for a broad-based and sustainable political settlement.
(B) Engaging the international community and the region in the effort to stabilize Iraq and to forge a broad-based and sustainable political settlement.
(C) Strengthening the capacity of Iraq's government ministries.
(D) Accelerating the delivery of basic services.
(E) Securing the delivery of pledged economic assistance from the international community and additional pledges of assistance.
(F) Training Iraqi security forces and transferring security responsibilities to those forces and the government of Iraq.
(2) Whether the Iraqis have made the compromises necessary to achieve the broad-based and sustainable political settlement that is essential for defeating the insurgency in Iraq.
(3) Any specific conditions included in the April 2005 Multi-National Forces-Iraq campaign action plan (referred to in United States Government Accountability Office October 2005 report on Rebuilding Iraq: DOD Reports Should Link Economic, Governance, and Security Indicators to Conditions for Stabilizing Iraq), and any subsequent updates to that campaign plan, that must be met in order to provide for the transition of security responsibility to Iraqi security forces.
(4) To the extent that these conditions are not covered under paragraph (3), the following should also be addressed:
(A) The number of battalions of the Iraqi Armed Forces that must be able to operate independently or to take the lead in counterinsurgency operations and the defense of Iraq's territory.
(B) The number of Iraqi special police units that must be able to operate independently or to take the lead in maintaining law and order and fighting the insurgency.
(C) The number of regular police that must be trained and equipped to maintain law and order.
(D) The ability of Iraq's Federal ministries and provincial and local governments to independently sustain, direct, and coordinate Iraq's security forces.
(5) The criteria to be used to evaluate progress toward meeting such conditions.
(6) A schedule for meeting such conditions, an assessment of the extent to which such conditions have been met, information regarding variables that could alter that schedule, and the reasons for any subsequent changes to that schedule.
(7) A campaign plan with estimated dates for the phased redeployment of the United States Armed Forces from Iraq as each condition is met, with the understanding that unexpected contingencies may arise.
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Levin's #2519 |
Warner's #2518 |
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Levin's #2519 |
Warner's #2518 |
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Alaska: | Murkowski | R | Nay | Yea | Stevens | R | Nay | Yea | |||
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Arizona: | Kyl | R | Nay | Nay | McCain | R | Nay | Nay | |||
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Arkansas: | Lincoln | D | Yea | Yea | Pryor | D | Nay | Yea | |||
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California: | Boxer | D | Yea | Yea | Feinstein | D | Yea | Yea | |||
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Colorado: | Allard | R | Nay | Yea | Salazar | D | Yea | Yea | |||
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Connecticut: | Dodd | D | Yea | Yea | Lieberman | D | Nay | Yea | |||
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Delaware: | Biden | D | Yea | Yea | Carper | D | Yea | Yea | |||
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Florida: | Martinez | R | Nay | Yea | Nelson | D | Nay | Yea | |||
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Georgia: | Chambliss | R | Nay | Nay | Isakson | R | Nay | Nay | |||
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Hawaii: | Akaka | D | Yea | Yea | Inouye | D | Yea | Yea | |||
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Idaho: | Craig | R | Nay | Yea | Crapo | R | Nay | Yea | |||
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Illinois: | Durbin | D | Yea | Yea | Obama | D | Yea | Yea | |||
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Indiana: | Bayh | D | Yea | Yea | Lugar | R | Nay | Yea | |||
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Iowa: | Grassley | R | Nay | Yea | Harkin | D | Yea | Nay | |||
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Kansas: | Brownback | R | Nay | Yea | Roberts | R | Nay | Yea | |||
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Kentucky: | Bunning | R | Nay | Nay | McConnell | R | Nay | Yea | |||
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Louisiana: | Landrieu | D | Yea | Yea | Vitter | R | Nay | Nay | |||
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Maine: | Collins | R | Nay | Yea | Snowe | R | Nay | Yea | |||
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Maryland: | Mikulski | D | Yea | Yea | Sarbanes | D | Yea | Yea | |||
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Massachusetts: | Kennedy | D | Yea | Nay | Kerry | D | Yea | Nay | |||
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Michigan: | Levin | D | Yea | Yea | Stabenow | D | Yea | Yea | |||
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Minnesota: | Coleman | R | Nay | Yea | Dayton | D | Yea | Yea | |||
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Mississippi: | Cochran | R | Nay | Yea | Lott | R | Nay | Yea | |||
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Missouri: | Bond | R | Nay | Yea | Talent | R | Nay | Yea | |||
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Montana: | Baucus | D | Yea | Yea | Burns | R | Nay | Yea | |||
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Nebraska: | Hagel | R | Nay | Yea | Nelson | D | Nay | Yea | |||
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Nevada: | Ensign | R | Nay | Yea | Reid | D | Yea | Yea | |||
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New Hampshire: | Gregg | R | Nay | Yea | Sununu | R | Nay | Yea | |||
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New Jersey: | Corzine | D | Absent |
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Lautenberg | D | Yea | Yea | |||
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New Mexico: | Bingaman | D | Yea | Yea | Domenici | R | Nay | Yea | |||
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New York: | Clinton | D | Yea | Yea | Schumer | D | Yea | Yea | |||
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North Carolina: | Burr | R | Nay | Nay | Dole | R | Nay | Yea | |||
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North Dakota: | Conrad | D | Nay | Nay | Dorgan | D | Yea | Yea | |||
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Ohio: | DeWine | R | Nay | Yea | Voinovich | R | Nay | Yea | |||
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Oklahoma: | Coburn | R | Nay | Nay | Inhofe | R | Nay | Nay | |||
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Oregon: | Smith | R | Nay | Yea | Wyden | D | Yea | Yea | |||
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Pennsylvania: | Santorum | R | Nay | Yea | Specter | R | Nay | Yea | |||
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Rhode Island: | Chafee | R | Yea | Yea | Reed | D | Yea | Yea | |||
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South Carolina: | DeMint | R | Nay | Nay | Graham | R | Nay | Nay | |||
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South Dakota: | Johnson | D | Yea | Yea | Thune | R | Nay | Nay | |||
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Tennessee: | Alexander | R | Absent |
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Frist | R | Nay | Yea | |||
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Texas: | Cornyn | R | Nay | Yea | Hutchison | R | Nay | Yea | |||
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Utah: | Bennett | R | Nay | Yea | Hatch | R | Nay | Yea | |||
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Vermont: | Jeffords | I | Yea | Yea | Leahy | D | Yea | Nay | |||
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Virginia: | Allen | R | Nay | Yea | Warner | R | Nay | Yea | |||
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Washington: | Cantwell | D | Yea | Yea | Murray | D | Yea | Yea | |||
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West Virginia: | Byrd | D | Yea | Nay | Rockefeller | D | Yea | Yea | |||
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Wisconsin: | Feingold | D | Yea | Yea | Kohl | D | Yea | Yea | |||
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Wyoming: | Enzi | R | Nay | Yea | Thomas | R | Nay | Yea | |||
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Okay, here's my strategy:
1. Kill all the Sunnis
2. Kill all the Shi'ites
3. Kill all the Kurds
4. Repeat the process in Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt, et. al.
5. Lease the empty land to the Mexicans sneaking across our borders in "search of a better life", while simultanously dismantling the US welfare system.
Should keep us busy for the next 50 years or so...
What is the exit strategy and timetable for withdrawing from the "War on Poverty"?????
Actually, there is a perfectly good exit stategy: Through IRAN.
Hmmmm. Good question.
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We're finally getting out of Germany and Japan?
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