Democrats and Iraq
Withdrawal
June 20, 2007
WASHINGTON, DC, United States (UPI) -- The
Democratic U.S. presidential candidates Tuesday offered up a range of options
for Iraq, from a total withdrawal of U.S. troops by the end of 2007 to leaving
behind an unspecified number to protect the U.S. embassy, train Iraqi forces,
protect the Kurdish north and conduct operations against al-Qaida in Iraq.
Public dissatisfaction with the conduct of the war in Iraq and its cost in both
lives and treasure -- more than 3,500 dead, 16,000 seriously wounded and nearly
$500 billion spent -- is a primary reason Democrats won control of both the
House of Representatives and the Senate.
The number of anti-war voters continues to grow. According to a poll conducted
this month by NBC News and the Wall Street Journal, 37 percent of respondents
favor an immediate and orderly withdrawal. That is up from 27 percent a year
ago. A solid majority of respondents -- 58 percent -- oppose an immediate
withdrawal, but 59 percent want to see the number of U.S. troops reduced.
A separate poll conducted by the Los Angeles Times this month shows growing
public frustration with the Democratic-controlled Congress, likely in connection
with its failure to significantly shift course in Iraq. In January, 43 percent
of liberal Democrats approved of Congress` performance. By June, that number
fell to about 33 percent.
The party`s anti-war base, expected to turn out to vote in large numbers during
the primaries, is closely tracking the presidential contenders` Iraq policies.
At one end of the spectrum are New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Ohio Rep.
Dennis Kucinich, who laid out their notional Iraq policy in separate appearances
before the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees annual
convention in Washington.
'I would withdraw all of our forces, without any residual troops, by the end of
this calendar year,' said Richardson, to cheers and applause.
He would cobble together an all-Muslim international peacekeeping force and
negotiate with Iran and Syria in an attempt to bring more stability to the
region.
He would leave no U.S. forces in Iraq.
'We cannot do the hard diplomatic work in Iraq until our forces are withdrawn.
When 61 percent of the Iraqi people say it`s okay for troops in Iraq, American
troops, to be shot, it is wrong. When 70 percent of the Iraqi people say they
want Americans out -- Sunni and Shiite -- by the end of the calendar year, the
time has come to withdraw our forces,' he said.
Richardson criticized Congress for failing to take aggressive action to end the
war and recommended the body withdraw the authorization for the use of military
forces it approved in 2002.
'Too often we`re looking at funding resolutions. Too often we`re looking at
timetables. What I would urge the Congress to do is press ahead with a major
initiative to de-authorize the war, to stop the war by the end of this calendar
year,' he said.
Kucinich believes Congress should cut off funding for the war.
'That`s why I`m in this race, to help the Democratic Party recover its soul, to
stand for peace. Democrats right now should be telling President Bush: We`re not
going to give you another dime for the war; bring those troops home right now,'
Kucinich said.
He would also seek to build an international peacekeeping force that would
replace U.S. forces.
'The occupation`s fueling the insurgency. I`m calling for a whole new approach,'
Kucinich said.
Kucinich wants the United States to pay reparations to Iraqi people who have
lost family members.
'Our presidency will be rejecting war as an instrument of policy. I am truly the
candidate of peace, which will create security for our people because war has
created insecurity,' Kucinich said.
Former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina is somewhere in the middle. He told
the AFSCME conference he would pull 40,000 to 50,000 troops out of Iraq
immediately, from the northern and southern provinces, bringing troop levels to
about 100,000 -- leaving a substantial force in Anbar province and in and around
Baghdad.
'I would continue to draw combat troops out of Iraq over the course of about the
next 10 months. I would get the Sunni and the Shiite leadership engaged in
serious discussions to see if they can reach some kind of political solution,
political reconciliation. Because without that, there`s never going to be peace
in Iraq,' Edwards said.
The withdrawal of forces would ease regional problems, particularly Iran and
Syria`s tacit and active support for insurgents and militias, he said.
'They have no interest in stabilizing Iraq as long as America`s an occupying
force there,' Edwards said.
Edwards believes if Iran is faced with the possibility of a destabilized Iraq,
it will play a more constructive role.
'They don`t want to see a broader Middle East conflict between Shiite and Sunni
because they`re a Shiite country in a Sunni-dominated Muslim world, so they have
an incentive to stabilize Iraq once America is not occupying Iraq,' Edwards
said.
Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois offered fewer specifics on a withdrawal timetable
other than it should start immediately.
'We need to bring our combat troops home from Iraq starting right now. I would
not wait. I would begin to get them out of the multi-sided sectarian civil war
that they are part of,' Obama said.
He would also cut off financial support to the Iraqi government if it fails to
live up to its own benchmarks -- agreeing to an oil revenue sharing law and
political reconciliation.
'If they don`t do that, we should begin cutting aid to them. We cannot continue
to support them if they`re not going to do the job that they have to do,' Obama
said.
Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, the current front-runner, talked more about
the troops that should remain rather than those she would withdraw.
'If the Iraqi government does get its act together, we may have a continuing
training mission. But that`s a limited number of troops with very specific
missions -- no permanent bases, no permanent occupation,' she said.
'We may still have remaining vital national security interests that are
important to America. You know, we cannot let al-Qaida have a staging ground in
Iraq,' she said.
Clinton said U.S. forces are likely to continue to be needed in Anbar province,
where a large number of tribes are now cooperating with the American military in
fighting against al-Qaida.
'That doesn`t take a lot of American forces, but I think we have to look
carefully about continuing that,' she said.
She also expressed concern that the Kurds in northern Iraq are not abandoned or
left exposed to attacks from Sunni insurgents or Shiite death squads.
Clinton said Iran`s 'influence' in Iraq also needs to be countered but said
regional diplomacy is probably the best way to handle that rather than troops.
'I think diplomacy and trying to get the rest of the region involved is the best
way to go there,' she said.
