Joe Biden’s Plan For Iraq Sails Through The Senate

The Senate voted 75-23 today to pass Joe Biden’s amendment that he says will “bring an end to the civil war in Iraq and get our troops out safely.” His plan calls for a Federal system in Iraq divided along ethnic lines. It allows for regional autonomy within the Federal system which will be divided into three parts. Each part will be governed locally by its dominant ethnic and religious factions, the Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds. It calls for the support of the U.N. and Iraq’s neighbors to help sort this mess out. Biden spoke for over an hour on the Senate floor last week trying to drum up support for his amendment. Republican candidate Sam Brownback was a co-sponsor of the amendment. The Biden-Brownback amendment also calls for the launch of a major international diplomatic push in the Middle East by the White House. Hillary Clinton and Christopher Dodd voted for the measure. John McCain and Barack Obama did not vote. The amendment is non-binding on Iraq so it has more political worth than practical worth, but it does offer a different vision of the war in Iraq than from the one offered by the Bush administration.
Alan Cosgrove