The plan by Sens. Joseph Biden, D-Del., and Sam Brownback, R-Kan., to divide Iraq into three areas received broad bipartisan support in a 75-23 nonbinding Senate resolution. But it came under harsh fire from the Bush administration and Iraqi leaders, who showed rare unanimity in condemning the plan as breaking up the country.
Biden responded that the proposal has been misinterpreted — it doesn’t call for a hard partition, he said, but rather federalism, with Iraqi regions acting like our states. The proposal wouldn’t separate ethnic and sectarian groups and wouldn’t be imposed by force.
“The Bush administration’s quixotic alternative has been to promote a strong central government in Baghdad,” he said. “That central government doesn’t function; it is corrupt and widely regarded as irrelevant. It has not produced political reconciliation — and there is no evidence it will.”
Whatever its faults, the Biden-Brownback plan remains the only credible alternative to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s dysfunctional government.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
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Let Iraq choose its fate. Not Biden or Brownback.
I watched the interview of the Iraqi Minister on CSPAN and he agreed with the idea of Federalism working to make up the “soft bordered” regions of Iraq.
The minister also stated that it was absolutely necessary to do this because in order for Federalism to work the structure must be in communication both ways.
That is, the levels of the “states” or “regions” must be established so that the various units of the government can communicate with the utmost effectiveness.
This is also what our founding fathers of the United States did, although it took them a much longer time to figure it out. :)
Let Iraq choose its fate. Not Biden or Brownback.Posted by: Joe Williams | October 07, 2007 at 01:37 AM
Like the Iraq government is doing such a great job now.
We want Iraq to be a democracy but we continually tell them what kind WE want them to have.
?????? I have but one Question for you. You express real logic and reason. Why are scared to put a name to it?
That has been a reaonable argument from the beginning, if it truly is the Iraqis right to decide their own fate. It is not our place to tell them “No you do not have it right. Try again!”.
It is not for us to be deciding the future of Iraq. That is for the Iraqis to decide themselves. The only plans we should be making for Iraq is finding the exit door.
The only thing Bush and Cheney are concerned about is the control of the oil. If the Iraqis figure out for themselves how to make a plan such as Biden/Brownback to work where as each region is a contributing partner, then where does that leave Bush and Cheney who are salivating at all the oil?
I agree that the Iraqis need to decide for themselves their future. But the current Iraqi government are just a bunch of fat cats who see fit to go on vacation when the fighting gets really tough.
Divide the country equally among those on its borders, withdraw, and let them fight about it for the next 100 or so years, or until the oil is pumped out.
Federations do work but not if they are cobbled together by outside powers. The various ethic communties stapled together as “countries” after WW1 mostly in the Middle East, Central Europe and Africa broke down eventually. There are very few confederations that could be called a success. The Swiss and Canadians come to mind, and probably the Confederate States of America, all of which were self-created to resist domination by a stronger power.
Funny, the U.S. moved away from the small states government to the big powerful federal government a long time ago. Do some of the powerful actually realize that maybe the original plan of a weak central government really was the best a nation can do? Would the Senators vote to decrease their power and move our country back that direction?
My good friends, the Witchita Eagle is two things: correct about Biden’s plan being the only viable political alternative left; and a little behind in world events.
Both Iraqi President Talibani and Prime Ministeral-Maliki have reversed their positions and now publically support the Biden-Brownback-Boxer amendment.
It was the Bush administration’s campaign of disinformation about the plan, to include having the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad issue false and misleading and inflammaory statements, the produced the initial wave of opposition in Iraq.
In true Presidenial form, Senator Biden met personally with Talibani and explained to him the plan in detail. This put an end to the Bush strategy to spread false information in order to–one, defeat the effort to bring a responsible end to the war and–two, hold on to power, power that is slipping from their grasp with each passing day.
I supported this type of solution long, long ago, and posted the idea here.Of course, I first heard of it elsewhere.This gives political “cover” — we can say we are leaving after the partition for a “federalist state of Iraq” is in place.
If Iraq’s 3 states then want complete Independence?
Well that is what happened to India and Pakistan when the British gave up.
You might also recall: I did not think that the Kurds making a seperate Oil deal mattered very much, because I saw a “3 state” solution commming.
Let Iraq choose its fate. Not Biden or Brownback.—
Iraq is deciding its fate. The first article of its constitution declares that Iraq should have a decentralized government. It’s Bush and his Gurus (goo-roos) who are trying to force the Iraqis to turn against their constitution and form a strong centralized government.
One more example of American politicians giving creedence to Osama bin Laden’s predictions. bin Laden told Muslims years ago that America would attack Iraq, partition it, and take the oil. And, since American “Big Oil” has recently negotiated a separate contract for oil with the Kurds in the north, bin Laden probably seems like more of a prophet than ever to radical Muslims the world over.
Bin Laden has about as much respect in the Muslim world as Hitler has in Israel. Ahmendinijad in Iran is facing ouster at home. His people are sick of his madness.
Should the Iraqui Kurds attain any kind of autonomy, it would bring the Turks and Iranians into play, both of whom have sizeabe Kurdish populations. Anindependent Kurdistan is the prayer of all Kurds but the Turks and Iranians would not sit still for any pro-Kurdisatan agitation within their borders. This might prompt a joint invasion of Iraq to stamp out the Kurdistan thing. This is just one of the doomsday scenarios that could develop.