...Quit talking about deadlines, and start talking about a set list of
goals & objectives.
If you're building a house or taking a trip to Disneyland, you usually sit down & plan it out to some degree. Democrats have pressed for a "strategy" on Iraq, from the Administration. Whenever this is mentioned, most of the media & pundits seem to be obsessed with the idea of deadlines & how terrible that would be. They say that would just telegraph how long the insurgents would need to hold out. I know that some people want a complete withdrawl now, but how about this as a Democratic alternative?
What if the party laid out a plan, without a set deadline, that instead set a list of goals & objectives that when achieved will necessitate a staggered troop withdrawl...
- Withdraw a certain number of troops after X number of Iraqi troops are trained.
- Withdraw another level of troops, X months after a constitution has been written.
- Withdraw a final level of troops after X months of a "stable" government under that constitution.
...Since it gets away from deadlines, why not propose objectives like this as an alternative?
Want to know why the Republicans don't want a set strategy on Iraq? The reason for troops going & staying in Iraq has been constantly moving by Republicans. The goal posts keep getting kicked back by the Republicans who change what "The Mission" is in Iraq. If you set the reasons for keeping the troops there, they won't be able do that as easily anymore.
To see the examples of this, look at this from Think Progress:
THE PRE-WAR MISSION WAS TO RID IRAQ OF WMD...
Bush: "Our mission is clear in Iraq. Should we have to go in, our mission is very clear: disarmament." [3/6/03]
AFTER THE WAR BEGAN, THE MISSION EXPANDED...
Bush: "Our cause is just, the security of the nations we serve and the peace of the world. And our mission is clear, to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam Hussein's support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people." [3/22/03]
Bush: "Our forces have been given a clear mission: to end a regime that threatened its neighbors and the world with weapons of mass destruction and to free a people that had suffered far too long." [4/14/03]
THEN THE MISSION WAS COMPLETE...
Bush: "On Thursday, I visited the USS Abraham Lincoln, now headed home after the longest carrier deployment in recent history. I delivered good news to the men and women who fought in the cause of freedom: Their mission is complete, and major combat operations in Iraq have ended.." [5/3/03]
BUT THEN IT CONTINUED AGAIN...
Bush: "The United States and our allies will complete our mission in Iraq." [7/30/03]
THEN THE MISSION WAS TO DEVELOP A FREE IRAQ…
Bush: “That has been our mission all along, to develop the conditions such that a free Iraq will emerge, run by the Iraqi citizens.” [11/4/03]
Bush: “We will see that Iraq is free and self-governing and democratic. We will accomplish our mission.”
[5/4/04]...
