Being for an end of our Iraq occupation is an undeniably noble cause which I support completely but I think that without a measured approach to the way we press the subject moving forward and what we actually press for, we may hand a prize to Republicans for coming up with a compromise.
Almost any solution at this point may gain support of most of the Congress and probably the American people which the GOP would not have gotten if left to their own blind loyalty to Bush.
I refer to the over-the-top rhetorical requirement, pushed by left leaning blogs and places of Progressive thinking like DKos and others, that have pushed Reid and most Democrats in the Senate into the position that ALL TROOPS MUST LEAVE IRAQ IMMEDIATELY, without any consideration of possible consequences.
I hear this expressed by many leaders of our party (and by most here at DKos and other well-intentioned Democratic blogs) which provides for no concrete plan to support the Iraqis left behind should there be an all-out civil war in which possibly thousands will be killed in sectarian violence.
I keep hearing us as anti-war Democrats (which I am a proud member of), over and over, giving the talking points of "the same people that said there was WMD, greeted as liberators, etc... are also the ones claiming to know that chaos will ensue when we leave" or "there's already lots of killing going on there now so what makes you think pulling out will make it worse?". We seem to be using this argument as a reason not to need a contingency plan or provide a measured re-deployment to help prevent a civil war and the sectarian killing that will most likely follow.
All that stuff of how they screwed things up is true but it's doubtful this conflict will just resolve itself(it will probably get a helluva lot worse without the US and allies as a referee and likely be splashed all over the TV news on a daily basis).
Granted, since November and a Democratically controlled Congress, Republicans have been complete intransigent assholes on the matter...however since the defection of Lugar and Warner (2 of the most reasonable and rational players on the GOP side of the argument) of GW Bush's strategy of "Surge" we should be coming together as Americans, Dems and GOP to try to find a plan that both sides can support...unless, as critics claim, this is really NOT about preventing more of our troops dying but rather about political advantage.
That's a pretty hard-core cynical approach if you ask me and although I have nothing scientific to back up my opinion at this point, only the people I speak with everyday that are sick and tired of this war, removing all troops by years end seems to be too extreme for the general citizenry especially if chaos is to be the result.
You may think Bush is a complete jerk-off(I know I do!!)who is trying to delay the withdrawal until he leaves office and hand a blood-bath to the next President (even HE thinks it will be a Democrat!!) but he may not have enough support in his own party to pull that off.
If not, then we will probably end up with a Congressional effort to accomplish this withdrawal before the next election (the Republicans DO NOT want Iraq to be on their plate in 2009 or they know their goose is cooked!).
That leaves us coming up with a plan that can pass the Senate and not invoke Bush's veto which the Republicans will sustain.
This is where IMHO we are making a mistake by blatantly forcing votes on measures that will require complete withdrawal by Jan.1 '08 or Spring '08. Doing so just to make the GOP Senators vote against it so they'll have those votes on their records (that was obviously Reid's strategy after the last filibuster when Warner and Lugar announced they wanted to find a compromise)is a short term advantage. I understand it and see his reasons for doing it but wonder if it will bite us in the ass in the long run. They are heading towards a compromise, amongst themselves, without us and I am afraid it will make us look like extremists and partisans if we insist on a complete withdrawal and ignore it...see this CNN article Republican compromise for mission change
Are we seriously going to be seen voting against a measure like that, how will that makes us appear to Americans weary for some hope and a new direction??
I was not against the Democratic leadership making a big deal to show the Republican intransigence on the issue (America needs to see that) but now is the time to take the lead and make sure the Democrats don't look like this is nothing more than jockeying for partisan advantage, offer to work across the aisle to form a consensus and get our men and women out of that God forsaken shit hole. why give the Republicans an easy shot at making us look like we are the obstructionist, instead of where the problem really lies and has been...with the Administration and the cronies in Congress who support them. Let's not lose the goodwill of the American people by letting them make us look like we are dragging our feet and letting Americans die while we play political brinkmanship.
Forget rubbing their noses into the mess they've made (Americans are smart enough to know who the culprits are in this debacle by now), let's get a measure we can all support and hopefully not use our military as pawns in a political power struggle. Let's get some co-sponsorship with moderate Republicans and get our men and women the hell out of there NOW!
Lets not let them weasel their way out of the mess they've made by making us look like we're unwilling to compromise to save lives. I have good friends with family members fighting in Iraq and God willing we will have other things with which to beat the crap out of the GOP. (It shouldn't be hard to find other things to kick their as about...how about corruption for instance? Hell they're so far in the pocket of the lobbyist's you can't swing a cat without hitting a crooked Republican! Let''s beat them but let's do it without any more (Americans or Iraqis) kids dying.