I watched Biden (D) and Graham (R) discuss Iraq with Tim Russert this morning on Meet the Press. They represented the standard Democrat and Republican viewpoints on the war situation. They agreed that losing the war would be a disaster. I was happy to hear that from Biden. After all, many of his fellow Dems, like Murtha, Kucinich, and Bill Clinton, believe in running away when things get tough, or that war is always bad, no matter what.
Biden and Graham also agreed that cutting funding for the war is a bad idea. Russert pressed Biden, who essentially said that the constitution gives the commander in chief control in war matters, and he supports that concept.
On balance, Biden had better things to say about the war than Graham. Biden was thinking, even though I mostly disagree with him, whereas Graham was obviously parroting the president. Even though I deplore liberalism's central tenet of "defy authority even when there is no reason", I immediately distrust anyone who agrees with any president 100%.
When asked if a surge could be tied to a wind-down, Graham said, in not so few words, "No." I disagree. I feel about this the way I feel about immigration: If amnesty is on the table, it must be tied to both a full-length border wall and strong action against companies who hire illegals. Having one without the other is misguided.
Russert showed poll numbers on public feelings about Democratic war plans: 8% think Democrats have a plan, 82% think they don't.
Here's the problem:
Democrat Plan: None
Republican Plan: Whatever Bush says
I can do better.
The Don Long Plan For Iraq
1. Give the Iraqi government an ultimatum: They have two years to get control of their problems. We tell them our forces will be reduced to one military base with 20,000 troops by January 2009. This, along with a carrier group, can help repel any invasion. Bush will have two years to resolve the Iraq problem, for better or worse.
2. Surge troop levels by 50-70,000, with the understanding this will be the last concerted effort we make in Iraq. We cannot make barbarians live as civilized people. They must want it. Clean out the Sadr City militia, increase training of Iraqi troops, continue to turn over security responsibilities to Iraqis.
3. If there are no concrete results in one year, we begin winding down to the single base mentioned in Item No. 1, and wish them the best. Also, we should continue to aid Iraq financially, unless it implodes and a new dictator arises (in which case we crush him if he goes for WMD, not wasting time setting up democratic elections and rebuilding the country.)
A potential wild card is an Israeli strike against Iran. This could disrupt the flow of money, people, and weapons from Iran to Iraq.
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