Our President is pretending that the Democrats have no plan for Iraq, and the media is repeating that pretense unchallenged. But a lot depends on which Democrats we look to. DNC Chair Howard Dean has no more plan than Bush himself. Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich published a plan in 2003 -- that's THREE YEARS AGO -- that puts Bush, his party, and some of the Democrats to shame. Here it is, unaltered, from 2003:
The Kucinich Plan to Bring Our Troops Home
Dennis Kucinich:
"The war in Iraq is over and the occupation has turned into a quagmire. The United States troops have become the targets of criminals and terrorists who are flowing into Iraq for the chance to kill Americans. The cost of the occupation keeps rising: The President has already asked for more than $155 billion to pay for it, and there is no end in sight. The United Nations is now in an impossible situation, where most of the members view the war and occupation of Iraq as a U.S. folly. Under these circumstances, the U.N. is unlikely to help. And U.N. assistance with a U.S. occupation would not allow the establishment of an Iraqi government that was acceptable to the Iraqi people.
"US military casualties in Iraq have now exceeded 500, and the media has begun comparing the figure to the number of US dead in Vietnam in 1965 prior to the significant expansion of US operations there.
"Other Democrats join the Bush Administration in explaining that 'We can't cut and run.' I say we can't continue the damage we are causing and cannot begin repairing it until we withdraw our occupying army. We must pay for what we destroyed. We must pay reparations to the families of innocent civilians we killed and injured. But we must work through the United Nations. We must allow the United Nations to facilitate the creation of a democratic government that will be acceptable to the Iraqi people. No government created by the United States will be. It is better that we recognize this now than after the next 500 deaths.
"If we stay the course it will do damage to American security. Iraq was not responsible for 9/11 and had no weapons of mass destruction. It was wrong to go in and it's wrong to stay in. The demands of an occupation are overstretching our armed forces. And the extended deployment of reserve forces makes us vulnerable at home. The reserve call-ups include large numbers of firemen, policemen and other first responders who are needed for hometown security. Americans are asking, is there a way out? I say there is. This is my plan to get the U.N. in...and the U.S. out of Iraq! This plan will bring our troops home within 90 days of U.N. approval, and strengthen American security.
"The following is the only detailed plan from any candidate for President that will quickly bring all US troops home from Iraq. 1. The United States must ask the United Nations to manage the oil assets of Iraq until the Iraqi people are self-governing. 2. The United Nations must handle all the contracts: No more Halliburton sweetheart deals, No contracts to Bush Administration insiders, No contracts to campaign contributors. All contracts must be awarded under transparent conditions. 3. The United States must renounce any plans to privatize Iraq. It is illegal under both the Geneva and the Hague Conventions for any nation to invade another nation, seize its assets, and sell those assets. The Iraqi people, and the Iraqi people alone must have the right to determine the future of their country's resources. 4. The United States must ask the United Nations to handle the transition to Iraqi self-governance. The UN must be asked to help the Iraqi people develop a Constitution. The UN must assist in developing free and fair elections. 5. The United States must agree to pay for what we blew up. 6. The United States must pay reparations to the families of innocent Iraqi civilian noncombatants killed and injured in the conflict. 7. The United States must contribute financially to the UN peacekeeping mission. 8. The United Nations, through its member nations, will commit 130,000 peacekeepers to Iraq on a temporary basis until the Iraqi people can maintain their own security. 9. UN troops will rotate into Iraq, and all US troops will come home. 10. The United States will abandon policies of "preemption" and unilateralism and commit to strengthening the UN.
"I will work tirelessly to take America in a new direction, to gain approval of this plan at the United Nations, and to put it into action, bring all US troops home in 90 days. Only if the United States takes a new direction will we be able to persuade the UN community to participate. Such a new direction is reflected in this 10-point plan.
"As President I will go to the U.N. and announce America's intention to abide by this plan if approved by the U.N.
"I will ask the U.N. Security Council to ratify a new resolution on Iraq that would deploy a multinational force under UN mandate to keep the peace in Iraq while the interim Iraqi government receives U.N. support and a new Iraqi government is elected. It is my plan that within one month, the first U.N. troops and support personnel will arrive in Iraq, and the first U.S. troops will be sent home. U.N. peacekeeping troops and Iraqis who are commissioned as police and military will replace the U.S. In place of the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority, the U.N. will open an office to direct the repair to infrastructure damaged by U.S. invasion. In two months, the U.N. will begin to conduct a census of the Iraqi population to lay groundwork for national elections. At the same time, new temporary rules for the election will be promulgated, guaranteeing universal suffrage on a one-person, one-vote basis. During the transition period, a Memorandum of Understanding between the American and U.N. force commanders for a turnover period will settle the question of who commands the troops. By the end of month three, all U.S. troops will have returned home.
"In month four, a major milestone will be reached when Iraqi sovereignty is established. A nationwide election will take place to elect representatives to a Constitutional Convention. The Convention will have two duties: 1) elect a temporary Prime Minister who appoints a cabinet to take over responsibility from the Iraqi Governing Council, and 2) draft a national constitution. Accountability of this Prime Minister is achieved by virtue of the fact that he can be recalled by a majority of the Convention.
"In one year, there will be nationwide elections pursuant to the new Constitution, which will install an elected government in Iraq.
"The U.S. owes a moral debt to the people of Iraq for the damage caused by the U.S. invasion. The U.S. will also owe a contribution to the U.N. to help Iraq make the transition to self-government. American taxpayers deserve that their contributions be handled in an accountable, highly visible manner. However, Americans are not required to build a state-of-the-art infrastructure as the Administration is planning. The Administration is ordering top-shelf technology from U.S. corporations for Iraq, paid for by U.S. taxpayers. Sweetheart deals have been awarded with billions of dollars to top corporations and political contributors. This is precisely what corrupts the Administration's reconstruction efforts today. Instead, Iraqis should be employed to repair Iraq, and U.S. taxpayers should pay only for the damage caused by the U.S. invasion, including compensation for its victims. U.S. taxpayers should not be asked to furnish Iraq with what we do not have here!
"The war and occupation in Iraq have been costly in other ways too. One price America has paid is the loss of our moral authority in the world. The Administration launched an unprovoked attack on Iraq, and the premises of the war are proving to be false. This has cost us our credibility and done serious harm to America's standing in the world. After the attacks of 9-11, the world felt sympathy for us. But this war and the occupation have squandered that sympathy, replacing it with dangerous anti-American sentiment throughout the world.
DAVID SWANSON is a co-founder of After Downing Street, a writer and activist, and the Washington Director of Democrats.com. He is a board member of Progressive Democrats of America, and serves on the Executive Council of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild, TNG-CWA. He has worked as a newspaper reporter and as a communications director, with jobs including Press Secretary for Dennis Kucinich's 2004 presidential campaign, Media Coordinator for the International Labor Communications Association, and three years as Communications Coordinator for ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. Swanson obtained a Master's degree in philosophy from the University of Virginia in 1997.
[Note: I sent this letter around midnight Saturday, and will call the DNC in the morning. I have no idea if they'll be open, but I will raise what hell I can if they are. If you want to copy, paste and send the letter with your name on it to the DNC contact--just Google it--please feel free. If you think you can get the word out immediately in your local media, by all means do so.]
The Democratic Party is being slapped and kicked around right now, two days before the election, by Bush and Company, being told that they don't have a plan for withdrawal from Iraq. This may well be the pivotal issue that swings many votes in critical races.
You know this isn't true, and that Dennis Kucinich does have that plan. Indeed, he has had it for at least three years, posted on his website. Further, he was one of the few who had the courage to stand up and say NO to this insane war in the first place.
It was disgusting and appalling how so many Democrats turned against John Kerry recently, rather than defending him. It was repulsive how many Democrats chastised Hugo Chavez for speaking truth, literal and figurative, about George Bush.
I don't know anyone who is enthusiastic about the Democratic Party, and it is for one main reason: They continue to "play politics" rather than standing tall and simply speaking the truth. They come across instead like sneaky, scared, spineless, little weasels.
When is this ever going to change? The Democrats are going exactly NOWHERE until they deal with this simple fact. They show no spine, no integrity, no honesty, no guts. And yet they want to be called leaders? A ten year old can tell you this is pure nonsense.
I feel it is incumbent RIGHT NOW for elected Democrats to get to the press and let them know immediately that YES, WE INDEED DO HAVE A PLAN FOR GETTING OUT OF IRAQ, AND HERE IT IS.
Put the only one amongst you who consistently operates from principles the Democratic Party is SUPPOSED to stand for, out front where he belongs, for once, and let the People of America know what his plan for getting out of Iraq is. Have the DNC adopt this strategy immediately, and get the word to the press in the next 24 and 48 hours.
There is simply no time for those of us who wish to vote the Republicans out, to counter the last minute Rovian arguments. We do not have the power as citizens to get to the press at this late hour. It can only be done if the DNC itself has an emergency meeting Sunday morning and makes it clear that this must be done. It is a crying shame that Democrats voted for the war, it is pathetic that they did not push Dennis' plan three years ago, and it will be their most dismal failure in their history if the Republicans retain control because of this one issue.
It can be done if you want it to. You know this is so, and you've certainly done more difficult things in the past. Failure to do this will result, very possibly, in the greatest loss this country has ever had.
Sincerely,
Daniel Geery
by
Daniel Geery (26 articles, 58 quicklinks, 121 diaries, 690 comments)
on Sunday, November 5, 2006 at 1:28:46 AM
I think Mr. Kucinich's plan has teriffic idealogical merit and he should be applauded for having the courage it took to present a thoughtful alternative plan. However, when dealing with an out of control situation like Iraq, I think it unfortunately lacks practical merit.
I would submit if the UN could not reasonably muster 15,000 troops to separate Israel and Hezbollah after a formal UN inspired ceasfire and no expectation the UN troops would be combat engaged, then where (which countries) are 130,000 UN troops who will be thrust into a wild combat laden civil war going to come from - one where the insurgents have no regard or respect for international (or Iraqi) law, much less the UN.
My gut suggests the UN will not get involved until Iraq does complete its unfortunate civil war growing pains.
It's unfortunate the Bush Administration was the catalyst to this horrible situation, but I still think there exists a narrow window for us to conduct an (honorable) controlled withdrawal if we "force" the Iraqis and not the UN, to assume security responsibility. To date, we really have not.
Respectfully,
CitizenMV
by
Matt Vrabel (14 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 61 comments)
on Sunday, November 5, 2006 at 3:52:05 PM
3 comments
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