.Where I stand on Iraq
Sen. Clinton says how Bush went wrong
and offers her prescription for the war
We have to deal with the Iraq we have, not the Iraq we wish we had. And the Iraq we have is a deteriorating, violent conflict that, if not technically a civil war, is about as close as you can get.
Having been now on the Armed Services Committee for more than 3½ years, the uniformed military has tried to be respectful of the chain of command. They've been unwilling to contradict the secretary of defense when he said, "Well, nobody's asked me for more troops." I mean, it's just flat-out untrue. It's been untrue for years.
There are three big things that need to happen.
Step 1: The Political Track
First of all, the political process has stalled and gone backward. The government promised that they would deal with the constitutional issues, including the very serious concern about how to allocate oil resources. And they won't do it. They keep punting it.
I recommended in '03 — and this went all the way up to [Vice President] Cheney, who shot it down — I recommended, while we were in charge, to create an oil trust, where you would basically say to every Iraqi, "You know what, you have a stake in this. And you can get some payment out of the oil revenue."
I thought it would be something that could demonstrate clearly that we were not on the side of the oil companies, we were not on the side of the ruling elites — we were on the side of the Iraqi people.
Nothing like that has been Adone. The Sunnis will not quit fighting until they are assured they're going to get some share of the oil revenue. Otherwise, the South goes to Shiites, the North goes to Kurds, and these people who have dominated not just Iraq, but the region historically, will be shamed and will be rendered second-class citizens.
In the last month, I've seen the president of Iraq, I've seen the deputy prime minister of Iraq, I've communicated with our ambassador in Iraq, and I've asked the same question: "When are you going to get the oil deal done?" And I keep being told, "Oh, it's imminent. We have legislation. It's going to happen." Well, the last thing I heard is they're going to punt it for another 18 months. That means it will not end, on the Sunnis' end.
Step 2: Diplomacy
The second thing that needs to happen is an international public gathering of the parties in the region. Right now, we have sort of private conversations with all these different groups, with the exception of Iran and Syria. So we talk to the Saudis, the Kuwaitis, the Jordanians, the Turks — but we're not bringing them to any kind of resolution about what they will publicly do and get them on record in a way that we can then bank on.
So, there is no understanding. The Turks are massing troops because they're scared to death about the Kurds and the infiltration. We know what the Iranians are doing. The other Sunni countries are playing their double game. And we're basically sort of watching it.
Our failure to have even backdoor talks with Iran and Syria with respect to Iraq and everything else in the region is, I think, another in a long line of mistakes on the part of the Bush administration.
Step 3: Phased redeployment
The third thing is phased redeployment. The administration has this mantra: "We'll stand down when they stand up." Well, 350,000 of them have stood up — but standing up does not mean they will fight and defend anything.
The appropriate formula is, "We will stand down anyway, and you will fight to defend Iraq." Because they are basically able to just allow us to take the brunt of the impact.
There are certain groups of the Iraqis that will fight, but the vast majority of the 350,000 are not prepared to stand up and fight for Iraq. They might stand up and fight for their tribe or for their family or for their religious affiliation. And that's not going to change unless they have to face the reality that, guess what, we are going to start, what we call, in the Democratic alternative, a phased redeployment.
Now, that doesn't mean initially, out of Iraq. It could be just moving to the North, because I do think we have an extra obligation to the Kurds not to desert them once again. It could certainly mean just over the horizon in Kuwait. But what we've been doing is not working.
New York Daily
and offers her prescription for the war
We have to deal with the Iraq we have, not the Iraq we wish we had. And the Iraq we have is a deteriorating, violent conflict that, if not technically a civil war, is about as close as you can get.
Having been now on the Armed Services Committee for more than 3½ years, the uniformed military has tried to be respectful of the chain of command. They've been unwilling to contradict the secretary of defense when he said, "Well, nobody's asked me for more troops." I mean, it's just flat-out untrue. It's been untrue for years.
There are three big things that need to happen.
Step 1: The Political Track
First of all, the political process has stalled and gone backward. The government promised that they would deal with the constitutional issues, including the very serious concern about how to allocate oil resources. And they won't do it. They keep punting it.
I recommended in '03 — and this went all the way up to [Vice President] Cheney, who shot it down — I recommended, while we were in charge, to create an oil trust, where you would basically say to every Iraqi, "You know what, you have a stake in this. And you can get some payment out of the oil revenue."
I thought it would be something that could demonstrate clearly that we were not on the side of the oil companies, we were not on the side of the ruling elites — we were on the side of the Iraqi people.
Nothing like that has been Adone. The Sunnis will not quit fighting until they are assured they're going to get some share of the oil revenue. Otherwise, the South goes to Shiites, the North goes to Kurds, and these people who have dominated not just Iraq, but the region historically, will be shamed and will be rendered second-class citizens.
In the last month, I've seen the president of Iraq, I've seen the deputy prime minister of Iraq, I've communicated with our ambassador in Iraq, and I've asked the same question: "When are you going to get the oil deal done?" And I keep being told, "Oh, it's imminent. We have legislation. It's going to happen." Well, the last thing I heard is they're going to punt it for another 18 months. That means it will not end, on the Sunnis' end.
Step 2: Diplomacy
The second thing that needs to happen is an international public gathering of the parties in the region. Right now, we have sort of private conversations with all these different groups, with the exception of Iran and Syria. So we talk to the Saudis, the Kuwaitis, the Jordanians, the Turks — but we're not bringing them to any kind of resolution about what they will publicly do and get them on record in a way that we can then bank on.
So, there is no understanding. The Turks are massing troops because they're scared to death about the Kurds and the infiltration. We know what the Iranians are doing. The other Sunni countries are playing their double game. And we're basically sort of watching it.
Our failure to have even backdoor talks with Iran and Syria with respect to Iraq and everything else in the region is, I think, another in a long line of mistakes on the part of the Bush administration.
Step 3: Phased redeployment
The third thing is phased redeployment. The administration has this mantra: "We'll stand down when they stand up." Well, 350,000 of them have stood up — but standing up does not mean they will fight and defend anything.
The appropriate formula is, "We will stand down anyway, and you will fight to defend Iraq." Because they are basically able to just allow us to take the brunt of the impact.
There are certain groups of the Iraqis that will fight, but the vast majority of the 350,000 are not prepared to stand up and fight for Iraq. They might stand up and fight for their tribe or for their family or for their religious affiliation. And that's not going to change unless they have to face the reality that, guess what, we are going to start, what we call, in the Democratic alternative, a phased redeployment.
Now, that doesn't mean initially, out of Iraq. It could be just moving to the North, because I do think we have an extra obligation to the Kurds not to desert them once again. It could certainly mean just over the horizon in Kuwait. But what we've been doing is not working.
New York Daily
posted by madtom at 3:15 PM
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