BUSH remarks in radio address this weekend:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/01/20070113-2.html"Members of Congress have a right to express their views, and express them forcefully. But those who refuse to give this plan a chance to work have an obligation to offer an alternative that has a better chance for success. To oppose everything while proposing nothing is irresponsible."Democratic Proposals for Iraq:April 7, 2006
Murtha presents plan to strenghten military, nation: http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/pa12_murtha/pr060407.htmlIt is a three-step process.
(1) Redeploy. It is time that our military “footprint” in the region is converted from a pervasive presence inside Iraq to a powerful quick-reaction force outside of Iraq. Over three years after we implemented a policy to “liberate” Iraq and bring democracy with the claim we would be welcomed with rose petals, almost one out of two Iraqis believe it’s OK to kill Americans. Our presence in Iraq is generating more recruits to the radical movement. Our departure would put tremendous pressures on the major factions within Iraq to have some semblance of a political settlement. I believe that upon our departure, Iraqi nationalism would force many Iraqis to turn on the foreign fighters.
2) Reallocate. I believe we should reallocate much of the funds saved by redeploying.
(3) Re-engage. In the wake of 9/11, America had overwhelming support around the world in the fight against terrorism. There was global support for our war in Afghanistan. Sadly, the diversion to the war in Iraq has frittered away much of that support and we must re-engage with countries around the world to conduct a more-effective war on terrorism. I believe our redeploying troops from Iraq will help considerably in that goal.
__________________________________________
Kerry's Plan on IraqBy Sen. John Kerry . Posted September 21, 2004.
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/19947/ We need to turn the page and make a fresh start in Iraq.
First, the President has to get the promised international support so our men and women in uniform don’t have to go it alone. It is late; the President must respond by moving this week to gain and regain international support.
The President should convene a summit meeting of the world’s major powers and Iraq’s neighbors, this week, in New York, where many leaders will attend the U.N. General Assembly. He should insist that they make good on that U.N. resolution. He should offer potential troop contributors specific, but critical roles, in training Iraqi security personnel and securing Iraq’s borders. He should give other countries a stake in Iraq’s future by encouraging them to help develop Iraq’s oil resources and by letting them bid on contracts instead of locking them out of the reconstruction process . . .
Second, the President must get serious about training Iraqi security forces.
The President should urgently expand the security forces training program inside and outside Iraq. He should strengthen the vetting of recruits, double classroom training time, and require follow-on field training. He should recruit thousands of qualified trainers from our allies, especially those who have no troops in Iraq. He should press our NATO allies to open training centers in their countries. And he should stop misleading the American people with phony, inflated numbers . . .
Third, the President must carry out a reconstruction plan that finally brings tangible benefits to the Iraqi people.
The President should look at the whole reconstruction package…draw up a list of high visibility, quick impact projects… and cut through the red tape. He should use more Iraqi contractors and workers, instead of big corporations like Halliburton. He should stop paying companies under investigation for fraud or corruption. And he should fire the civilians in the Pentagon responsible for mismanaging the reconstruction effort . . .
______________________________________
August 24th, 2006
The Biden Plan On IraqJoe Biden thinks he knows a way to salvage Iraq:
http://decision08.net/2006/08/24/the-biden-plan-on-iraq/ Four months ago, in an opinion piece with Les Gelb, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, I laid out a detailed plan to keep Iraq together, protect America’s interests and bring our troops home. Many experts here and in Iraq embraced our ideas. Since then, circumstances in Iraq have made the plan even more on target — and urgent — than when we first proposed it.
The new, central reality in Iraq is that violence between Shiites and Sunnis has surpassed the insurgency and foreign terrorists as the main security threat. Our leading civilian and military experts on Iraq — Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and Gens. George Casey, Peter Pace and John Abizaid — have all acknowledged that fact.
The plan calls for not for a partition, but a federation:
First, the plan calls for maintaining a unified Iraq by decentralizing it and giving Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis their own regions. The central government would be left in charge of common interests, such as border security and the distribution of oil revenue.
Second, it would bind the Sunnis to the deal by guaranteeing them a proportionate share of oil revenue. Each group would have an incentive to maximize oil production, making oil the glue that binds the country together.
Third, the plan would create a massive jobs program while increasing reconstruction aid — especially from the oil-rich Gulf states — but tying it to the protection of minority rights.
Fourth, it would convene an international conference that would produce a regional nonaggression pact and create a Contact Group to enforce regional commitments.
Fifth, it would begin the phased redeployment of U.S. forces this year and withdraw most of them by the end of 2007, while maintaining a small follow-on force to keep the neighbors honest and to strike any concentration of terrorists.
Biden: At best, the course we’re on has no end in sight. At worst, it leads to a terrible civil war and possibly a regional war. This plan offers a way to bring our troops home, protect our security interests and preserve Iraq as a unified country.
Those who reject this plan out of hand must answer one simple question: What is your alternative? _______________________________________
January 9, 2007
The Kucinich Plan for IraqThese are the elements of the Kucinich Plan:
http://www.pdamerica.org/articles/news/2007-01-09-20-38-23-news.php1. The US announces it will end the occupation, close military bases and withdraw . . .
2. US announces that it will use existing funds to bring the troops and necessary equipment home . . .
3. Order a simultaneous return of all US contractors to the United States and turn over all contracting work to the Iraqi government . . .
4. Convene a regional conference for the purpose of developing a security and stabilization force for Iraq. The focus should be on a process which solves the problems of Iraq . . .
5. Prepare an international security and peacekeeping force to move in, replacing US troops who then return home . . .
6. Develop and fund a process of national reconciliation. The process of reconciliation must begin with a national conference, organized with the assistance of the UN and with the participation of parties who can create, participate in and affect the process of reconciliation, defined as an airing of all grievances and the creation of pathways toward open, transparent talks producing truth and resolution of grievances . . .
7. Reconstruction and Jobs. Restart the failed reconstruction program in Iraq. Rebuild roads, bridges, schools, hospitals, and other public facilities, houses, and factories with jobs and job training going to local Iraqis . . .
8. Reparations. The US and Great Britain have a high moral obligation to enable a peace process by beginning a program of significant reparations to the people of Iraq for the loss of lives, physical and emotional injuries, and damage to property. There should be special programs to rescue the tens of thousands of Iraqi orphans from lives of destitution. This is essential to enable reconciliation . . .
9. Political Sovereignty. Put an end to suspicions that the US invasion and occupation was influenced by a desire to gain control of Iraq's oil assets by A) setting aside initiatives to privatize Iraqi oil interests or other national assets, and B) by abandoning efforts to change Iraqi national law to facilitate privatization . . .
10. Iraq Economy. Set forth a plan to stabilize Iraq's cost for food and energy, on par to what the prices were before the US invasion and occupation. This would block efforts underway to raise the price of food and energy at a time when most Iraqis do not have the means to meet their own needs . . .
11. Economic Sovereignty. Work with the world community to restore Iraq's fiscal integrity without structural readjustment measures of the IMF or the World Bank . . .
12. International Truth and Reconciliation. Establish a policy of truth and reconciliation between the people of the United States and the people of Iraq . . .
_______________________________
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
