We Can't Stay the Course, We Must Change the Course: Why We Should Set a Timetable for Withdrawal and Redeployment of U.S. Troops in Iraq

Today, Senators John Kerry and Russ Feingold will lay out an amendment to the annual defense policies bill that would set a date for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq by July 2007, and calls for their responsible redeployment to strategic sights in the war on terrorism - such as Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa - where Islamic extremism is gaining a foothold. Iraq would not be abandoned, however, as we would keep a quick-strike force in neighboring Kuwait that could deal with whatever the Iraqis couldn't.

The amendment will fail, as not only Republicans will vote against it, but many Democrats will too, opting in favor of a much weaker amendment by Senator Carl Levin that simply calls for "some" troop reduction by the end of this year and for the Bush administration to come up with an exit plan (Good luck with that. Does anyone think it's a matter of them simply needing to be told?).

I am writing now to offer my support for the Kerry-Feingold plan, and urge my fellow Democrats to coalesce around it, as I see it as our only way to convince the American people that we should be in charge - we can't do that by just offering to raise the minimum wage or lower prescription drug prices or other domestic issues as some would like to pretend (it didn't work in either of the two election cycles since 9/11 and it's won't work now). Iraq is the only real issue on people's minds. And why not? When war is on, and their sons and daughters are dying, that is all that matters to Americans, and now is the time for us to show that which are lack of has caused our electoral woes for years - leadership. We must show we can lead our country in this time of need, and we should.

Many Democrats are afraid to speak up for withdrawal because they are afraid that Republicans will attack them for being weak, for wanting to "cut and run" and "let the terrorists win." What they fail to understand is that the Republicans will do this no matter how hawkish we are on Iraq. But more than that, the American people are on *our* side. The most recent Gallup poll shows that solid majorities support setting a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq, and that they are much more likely to support a candidate who holds this position than one that does not. Also, by offering to redeploy some troops as opposed to just withdrawing all of them, Democrats can show they have a plan to fight Al Qaeda and their allies, taking back the national security mantle.

But putting aside the politics of the situation, undoubtedly the lesser of our concerns here, this is simply the right thing to do. I believe it is the right course of action to take in Iraq, and I will explain why I believe that and why this it the right side for us to be on.

The Bush administration and Republicans currently argue that we must "stay the course" until the Iraqis can take care of themselves. The problem is that the Iraqi government will be content to let us fight their war forever and our current open-ended presence there gives them no incentive to put together their own forces to secure their country. Giving them a timetable for our withdrawal will give them this incentive.

And it will work.

If there's one thing that has been shown is that deadlines have been helpful. As Senator Kerry said in a statement posted on Daily Kos today: "Iraqi politicians have proven they only respond to deadlines - a deadline to transfer authority, and deadlines to hold three elections. It was only the most intense eleventh-hour pressure that brought forward a consensus Prime Minister. It was the only the most intense eleventh-hour pressure that forced the Iraqis to complete their government." It worked because they knew they had to get their act together. The same will hold true here. Setting a schedule for withdrawal and redeployment with the new Iraqi government will empower their leaders and finally put them in the position of running their country. The rest is up to them, and it has to be for it to ever work. As Major Paul Hackett said, "It's kind of ludicrous to believe 22-year-olds with M16s can spread democracy." Our military has done what we have asked them to do, and now it is time to bring them home.

The second argument is that setting a timetable would "embolden the terrorists." But our presence in Iraq - and especially the horrors of Abu Ghraib and Haditha, isolated incidents or not - is emboldening them everyday, and furthermore, there is every reason to believe that leaving, if done responsibly as laid out by Kerry, Feingold and others, could deal a major blow to the insurgents.

As Rep. John Murtha - whom we are all indebted for getting the ball rolling on this - has pointed out, the percentage of foreign fighters in Iraq is very small. Al Qaeda is a tiny part of the insurgency. Most of the insurgents are Iraqis who - rightly or wrongly - want U.S. troops out of their country. As General Casey has said - not just liberal Democrats - our open-ended occupation is what is feeding the insurgency. Take that away and you take the wind out of their sails.

When U.S. troops leave, these insurgents will be more interested in fighting each other - as they have already begun clearly, as more Iraqi civilians have died than U.S. troops and most believe it is some sort of civil war - and that includes Al Qaeda. Sunnis and Shiites will fight each other for control of the country and Al Qaeda's interest in terrorism against the U.S. will be no interest to them. It is not now, they are simply allies because right now they have the same goal: drive the U.S. out of Iraq. That shared goal ends the day the bulk of our troops our redeployed (in fact, in a recent issue of Foreign Policy, Lt. Gen. William Odom suggests the Sunni groups may drive Al Qaeda out of Iraq entirely). Iraqis won't be coming here to commit suicide bombings - unless maybe, if we stay.

The thing about deadlines is they can be extended at any time. A plan for withdrawal can be altered based on future needs. But the current plan offers us no change whatsoever. It offers only the same failed policy that we've had for more than three years now since the war began (by the time this would come into fruition it will have been four years. Who can call that cutting and running? The Korean War was shorter and we had more to show for it).

That is simply no longer an option.

It is ridiculous to me when people attack a change in direction because we might fail. We are failing now! The current policy has never worked, can never work, and never will. A change in direction is our only shot. What more, exactly, do you have to lose by changing your strategy when you are currently losing?

Thankfully, most of the American people now get this. And it's high time for our politicians to as well. People are thirsting for leadership on this.

Let's give them some.