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The End Of The False Choice |
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As I’ve been arguing for months, there is a false choice presented to the American public on the way forward in Iraq. We’ve been told the options are to “cut and run,” withdraw precipitously, and leave chaos in our wake, or, as John McCain prefers, stay in Iraq forever.
It doesn’t have to be like that.
We deserve more from our leaders - more thought, more discussion, and more imagination. There are more than two ways to proceed with respect to Iraq. Instead of withdrawing no matter the consequences - and instead of staying forever - we can withdraw in a careful and responsible way.
Last week, ten challengers running for Congress presented such a plan. It was well researched, drew on the expertise of groups like the Iraq Study Group that preceded it, was endorsed by policy experts and military generals, and presented a comprehensive solution not only to withdraw responsibly from Iraq, but to prevent “future Iraqs” from every taking place.
Clearly, the idea is catching on.
A Responsible Plan To End The War In Iraq was released last week with ten challengers endorsing it. As of today, forty-two candidates have endorsed the Plan from districts and states all over the country - red, blue, and purple. If all these candidates get elected, almost 10% of Congress next year will have already endorsed the Plan.
It’s not hard to understand why there’s momentum behind this idea. Americans don’t like being lied to by their leaders and they don’t like the constrained thinking presented by false choices. Chellie Pingree from Maine puts it well:
I don’t have any hesitation being a candidate and speaking out. I hear from Democrats who feel frustrated that their representatives aren’t doing more to end the war, Republicans who are angry they didn’t get the right information, and Independents who don’t trust anyone anymore. There is a desire from people to know that those they elect will be different.
We are banding together to let our colleagues in Congress know that people are ready to end the war and they are anxious to hear what’s in the Plan. There’s a lot of momentum behind it.
Let me repeat that again: There’s a lot of momentum behind it.ÂÂ
With 66% of the country against the war, America has already decided it wants to leave Iraq. The question is not if, but how. People are ready to hear reasoned, responsible ideas for withdrawing from Iraq - ideas that concentrate not narrowly on military strategy but understand the political, diplomatic, humanitarian, and economic sides of this enormously complex issue. By running on such an idea, this growing list of candidates is showing us the way forward.
If we can elect them, they will have a mandate to show those in Congress that there is political will out there in America to end the war. They will have a mandate to stand up and not back down when tough votes come to the floor. They will have proved beyond a shadow of a doubt what they were elected to do - and they will do it.
The momentum is there. Candidates are signing on. The conversation is changing.
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