The Big Three Fraud on Iraq & Bill Richardson Alternative

Despite all the rhetoric and resolutions emanating from Washington, two fundamental facts about the war in Iraq won't change. The killing will continue, but not all of it has to. Iraqis will continue to die in large numbers regardless of what the United States does. The troop surge will shift the violence to other locations or cause the combatants to go underground for a time, but will do nothing to resolve the reasons for the fighting. The ignorance, arrogance and incompetence of the American architects of the invasion and its aftermath have created the perfect storm of factors that made the current civil war possible and inevitable for years to come. The deepening of the sectarian divide, the struggle over who gets to steal the oil revenue and the proxy fight for influence being waged by other countries in the region all ensure that peace will not break out soon. . .

At one point not so long ago, the war was sold to the voters with the claim that creating a democracy in Iraq would be easy and would spread across the region. Now the excuse for having to stay is that the chaos in Iraq will engulf the region. Both these variations of the domino theory are wrong, and the damage we are doing to our national security by staying is far greater than we would do by getting out.

Phillip Coyle, a senior advisor to the Center for Defense Information, has been advising Richardson on Iraq and our military. The CDI has been highly critical of the war and advocated for our withdrawal. See Five Reasons to Leave Iraq. Coyle served as an assistant secretary of defense under President Clinton.

Coyle comments on Richardson's plan for Iraq:

There's an old saying, "If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is to stop digging." Americans understand this, and can see that our US military is in a hole in Iraq. Gov. Richardson understands this also, and wants to get our military out of that hole. Americans can see that the war in Iraq is helping al Qaeda to recruit terrorists, undermining the struggle against terrorism, increasing the chances of terror attacks on the US, encouraging anti-American hatred, and strengthening Iran. In a recent poll conducted by the Pew Research Center for People and the Press, nearly 6 in 10 Americans continue to say they want their representatives in Congress to vote for legislation that would bring the troops home by August, 2008. Gov. Richardson is working to bring our young men and women home from Iraq as soon as possible.

A clear US commitment to a complete, irreversible withdrawal from Iraq may now be the only way to develop a regional concert of powers that could work with Iraqis to try to stabilise the country and cauterise the conflict.

The continuing US and British occupation is a roadblock to that co-operation. The galvanising impact of a decision to depart unequivocally can be the last best chance at preventing the conflict from boiling over beyond Iraq to the whole region. How we design and implement our departure is our last significant remaining leverage.

Richardson offers an unequivocal alternative on Iraq to the continued intervention offered by Clinton, Obama and Edwards. Richardson and his advisers recognize the war has been a disaster and will bring our intervention in Iraq with his first year in office.

Richardson proposes a global agenda that meaningfully addresses the pressing issues facing our planet and all peoples and will forge a new foreign policy that restores America's place in the world.  He possesses a clarity of insight on Iraq that the other major candidates lack.

Richardson's plan for Iraq is bold, responsible and demonstrates the leadership skills we need in our President.

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