The Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq is beginning to shift the debate with some national commentators. Yesterday morning on This Week with George Stephanopoulos, the Plan came up as a subject, and Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor of The Nation, clearly got it: "There are no military solutions" to the crisis in Iraq, she said, and "if we withdraw responsibly, the region in the long term will be more stable, (and) America will be restored as a responsible global leader."
For too long the debate over Iraq has been limited to military solutions when in fact the only viable solution hinges on diplomacy, including ending the humanitarian and economic crisis in the region. The Republicans and the Bush administration have been successful in limiting the debate to winning vs. losing, or "stay the course" vs. "cut-and-run."
But that is beginning to change as Americans begin to see there is no military solution in Iraq. (Unfortunately Cokie Roberts is one commentator who hasn't caught on. During the discussion of The Responsible Plan she sided with John McCain, who wants for us to stay in Iraq to "win," even if it means a longterm occupation.)
Watch the exchange here:
Darcy Burner, a congressional candidate in Washington State, pioneered the concept of the Plan, and I began working with her on it this past winter. We had help from military and national security experts like retired generals Paul Eaton and John Johns.
Since we presented the Plan in Washington last month, more than 50 progressive House and Senate candidates around the country have signed on, and it continues to generate necessary conversation about how to end the war. Unfortunately, it's unlikely that General Petraeus and the Bush administration will pay any attention. It'll be up to the next administration and Congress to figure out what's responsible.
Read more about the Plan at my website, chelliepingree.com. You can sign on to the Plan, too, at responsibleplan.org.
Hopefully, our discussions here can further an understanding of where we are at, how we got here, where we want to go, and how we should get there.
Actions are important, but the importance of ideas should not be underestimated.
Well, out of sight out of mind,(the war is not happening) no draft not everyone is involved until they stop at the gas pump.
Just think about that for a moment. When oil companies are making hugh profits plus a tax break from tax payers we still have high gasoline prices. Dumb down Americans of course will want the war to go on thinking this will keep the gas prices down.
When Mccain starts telling American we need your children to go so we can be safe here. slowing they might start thinking for themselves, that they keep moving the goal post.
when I said we should march to let the old politicians know we want this war to end bring the troops home, I had a blogger to them me, the Millennial group can just sit on their butts let people die, while they protest behind the youtube and text each other. they are seeking the future on their as*s. So much for America. Communist China has been seeking america future when Nixon was in office, they have middle class, we do not. loan us money to buy their products trash.make us sick,we keep voting the Ralph Nader to protest.
It is time to give Iraqis their nation back before too few are left to remember that most Shiite, Sunni or Kurd Iraqis described themselves as Iraqis above all else and religious or sectarian group members second…..
http://pacificgatepost.blogspot.com/2008/04/why-fear-withdrawal-from-iraq.html
A responsible end to the war involves several things. The first is working with those interested in working together to keep the country unified. The second is dealing with those that don't. The mullahs are not interested in that. We've also got the problem of the two Islamic sects and the Kurds. These differences can't be resolved by words and hand-shaking. Of course, how does one take on a difference in faith? That's a serious problem not yet addressed.
These are people who don't necessarily act the same way we do. We tolerate the person next to us we don't like. They want to get rid of them. This is a world where differences in faith matter, and we can't address that playing on the "Freedom of Worship" card. This thought is practically foreign.
This solution won't even be seriously considered by those in the uber-wealth class. Some are making money from the occupation. Others are otherwise making money and unaffected by it.
A solution that will work is to tax it out of existence. Tax the uber-wealthy until they are ready to say "Stop."
Adopt PAYGO and make the uber-wealthy pay 100% of the cost. Do this and they will stop the occupation.
I followed your candidacy here in Maine and voted for you, but I have always been curious about this one thing. How did it happen that you had Senator Lieberman's wife as a speaker and spokesperson for you at; one of your events in Camden Maine, when you were running?
Are you still connected to the Liebermans today? I know you bloggers do not generally respond to any comments here on the Huff Post, but that thought is nagging on my mind.
Let's fight them in Iraq because we would rather kill innocent Iraqi people than defend our own country. Let's install our beliefs in the Middle East just because they don't like us. They hate us so let's kill as many of them as possible and maybe they'll like us better.
Also, what diplomacy? GW refuses to talk to the one country that can calm the mess in Iraq. The problem is no diplomacy.
Lastly, was your "a regime that believes it has the ultimate truth and answers for mankind, that sees itself as the savior" a comment about the US? I suggest that you look inward before you criticize outward. We are there doing exactly what we don't want Islamic Exteremists to do here.
Makes one wonder whose god is best.........
This is the last place we the people have. Soon we will not have this outlet unless you can afford it. China has our jobs, our prisons are filling and our military personnel are being killed while we sit on our a*s and talk about it.
We have gone around this mountain. If mothers of America say we will not make any more babies just so they can get killed for a product we can get some where else. It may cost a little more but my children are worth even more than a barrel of oil at a cheap price. Pro-Lifer are a joke. Make babies to kill babies in someone else country.