Kennedy Calls for U.S. Withdrawal from Iraq

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[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]by Vicki Allen[/font]​

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WASHINGTON - The United States should start to withdraw militarily and politically from Iraq and aim to pull out all troops as early as possible next year, Sen. Edward Kennedy said on Thursday.

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[/font]The current course is only making the crisis worse.
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After Sunday's Iraqi elections, Kennedy said President Bush should state he intends to negotiate a timetable with the new Iraqi government to draw down U.S. forces.

At least 12,000 U.S. troops should leave at once, Kennedy said, "to send a stronger signal about our intentions to ease the pervasive sense of occupation."

The Massachusetts Democrat, who opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq, became the first senator to lay out a plan for Bush to start withdrawing troops a day after the Pentagon warned lawmakers that strikes by insurgents may increase after Sunday's elections.

Besides ending its military presence, Kennedy said the United States must stop making political decisions in Iraq and turn over full authority to the United Nations to help Baghdad set up a new government.

He said an international meeting led by the United Nations and Iraq should be convened immediately in Iraq or elsewhere in the Middle East to start that process.

"We now have no choice but to make the best we can of the disaster we have created in Iraq," Kennedy in a speech to the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. "The current course is only making the crisis worse."

He said the indefinite presence of U.S. troops is "fanning the flames of conflict" in what has become "a war against the U.S. occupation."

The Republican National Committee criticized the Senate's leading liberal for delivering "such an overtly pessimistic message only days before the Iraqi election."

"Kennedy's partisan political attack stands in stark contrast to President Bush's vision of spreading freedom around the world," RNC spokesman Brian Jones said.

Kennedy emphasized that Bush must also make it clear that the United States does not intend to have a long-term presence, and announce that it will dramatically reduces its embassy in Baghdad, which is the largest in the world.

While many in the Republican-led Senate have expressed dismay as the death toll of U.S. troops stands at more than 1,400, Kennedy is the first to lay out a plan for a troop withdrawal, his office said.

In the Republican-led House of Representatives, 24 Democrats this week introduced a resolution calling on Bush to begin an immediate pullout.

The administration has refused to offer a timetable for pulling troops, and Bush on Wednesday said the United States would remain until the new government can defend itself. Democrats like Kennedy have been the strongest critics of the war but many Republicans are also concerned, in part because Iraq is costing more than $1 billion a week and has put a great strain on America's military and its budget.

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[Sunstone]

The conservative talk shows will be calling Kennedy a traitor today, but I found his point the war in Iraq has become a war against the American occupation to be a wake up call.

 

[fromthe heart]

President Bush has said he intends to begin withdrawl of troops this year. Even the people of Iraq themselves want us out and I feel the president WILL begin to pull them as soon as the elections are over. It seems to me The Iraq political forces are using our occupation at present to intice people to come out and vote on the basis of if a certian person wins their race for office that this person will insist that the U.S. pull out. I think it will happen. I feel even Bush wants this nightmare over as much as everyone else so he can get on with the business of our own country. This is just my view on the things and newscasts I've heard in the past couple of days.

 

[Dr. Nosophoros]

I am no fan of Ted Kennedy (or the U.N. for that matter) I think the left is just as bad as the right for the most part and he is an extreme lefty IMO, but I agree in part with him on this.

From what I understand, Russia is getting closer to China again, and China more friendly with a number of others, so I feel that they may sense a weakness. IMO, This war was not only wrong, but it is weakening us militarily and as a nation, and if we want to continue the "crusades" it will only weaken us further, leaving us more vulnerable.

 

[robtex]

I may be lost on it....but with the current finding of no wmd's what are the objectives listed by the US goverment for the current occuapation of Iraq? It is hard for us to see what is going on because other than the voting process there doesn't seem to be any clear cut objections that are being shared with the public.

 

[No*s]

I am no fan of Ted Kennedy (or the U.N. for that matter) I think the left is just as bad as the right for the most part and he is an extreme lefty IMO, but I agree in part with him on this.

From what I understand, Russia is getting closer to China again, and China more friendly with a number of others, so I feel that they may sense a weakness. IMO, This war was not only wrong, but it is weakening us militarily and as a nation, and if we want to continue the "crusades" it will only weaken us further, leaving us more vulnerable.

I see some strength in the argument. Frubals for thee.

 

[Mr Spinkles]

I may be lost on it....but with the current finding of no wmd's what are the objectives listed by the US goverment for the current occuapation of Iraq? It is hard for us to see what is going on because other than the voting process there doesn't seem to be any clear cut objections that are being shared with the public.

The objective is to help Iraq get a democratic government up and running with a military and police force that can sustain it after we leave. It would be quite a shame to depose Saddam, leave, and allow some lunatic like Al-Zarquawi (sp?) to take over.

the war in Iraq has become a war against the American occupation

Yes, that terrible, oppressive American occupation. Come on, Sunstone--it's a war against democracy, secularism, and "the West", and FOR power, theocracy, and oppression.

 

[No*s]

The objective is to help Iraq get a democratic government up and running with a military and police force that can sustain it after we leave. It would be quite a shame to depose Saddam, leave, and allow some lunatic like Al-Zarquawi (sp?) to take over.

Yes, that terrible, oppressive American occupation. Come on, Sunstone--it's a war against democracy, secularism, and "the West", and FOR power, theocracy, and oppression.

Spinks, I have to second that. Now that we've broken the Iraqi government, we must fix it before we leave. Anything less would be just as immoral as I felt the invasion was when we began...and if we leave prematurely, we'd simply have changed a secular (as secular as it gets there) despotism for a fundamentalist despotism.

 

[Sunstone]

Yes, that terrible, oppressive American occupation. Come on, Sunstone--it's a war against democracy, secularism, and "the West", and FOR power, theocracy, and oppression.

I'm afraid, Spinks, that that is just how you and I see it. I'm not at all sure that's how the average Iraqi is seeing this war. I think it would be very optimistic of us to suppose that the average Iraqi sees the occupation of his country as us helping him.

One of the first things we did after the Revolutionary War was won was to demand that the French withdraw their armies. Much as we appreciated the help the French gave us in beating the British, we still didn't want them hanging around on our shores. It's likely that the average Iraqi no more wants us hanging around in Iraq than we wanted the French to hang around in America.

That is to say, a crucial part of the battle for Iraq is to convince the average Iraqi of exactly the point that you made -- that the war is not about our interests, but about their future -- and I'm far from certain that we've done that. I think Kennedy was pointing out that we haven't done it. That to the average Iraqi, this has become a war about our occupation of their country, rather than about freedom, secularism, democracy, and their own long term interests.