Bring Them Home… “We need to rethink the Pottery Barn rule.”

[kerrygoddess]

Senator Ted Kennedy said today in a speech to Johns Hopkins University 's School of Advanced International Studies, that Bush should take steps to negotiate a timetable to begin bringing home the troops, immediately after the Iraqi election.

Saying the American military's continued presence in Iraq is fanning the flames of conflict, Kennedy said at least 12,000 U.S. troops should leave at once, and a complete withdrawal should be finished as early as possible in 2006.

The Massachusetts Democrat said America must give Iraq back to its people rather than continue an occupation that parallels the failed policies of the Vietnam war.

"The U.S. military presence has become part of the problem, not part of the solution," Kennedy said in a speech to Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies. "We need a new plan that sets fair and realistic goals for self-government in Iraq, and works with the Iraqi government on a specific timetable for the honorable homecoming of our forces."

Earlier this week in remarks at the Brookings Institution, Congressman Marty Meehan called for a similar withdrawl of the troops from Iraq . He and Kennedy plan to press Congress for a debate on this in Armed Services committees.

Kennedy said the United States and the insurgents are both battling for the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people and the U.S. is losing.

"There may well be violence as we disengage militarily from Iraq and Iraq disengages politically from us, but there will be much more violence if we continue our present dangerous and destabilizing course," said Kennedy. "It will not be easy to extricate ourselves from Iraq , but we must begin."

It is time to recognize that there is only one choice. America must give Iraq back to the Iraqi people.

We need to let the Iraqi people make their own decisions, reach their own consensus, and govern their own country.

We need to rethink the Pottery Barn rule. America cannot forever be the potter that sculpts Iraq's future. President Bush broke Iraq, but if we want Iraq to be fixed, the Iraqis must feel that they, not we, own it.

Links to Kennedy's & Meehan's speeches: http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/default.asp?view=plink&id=285

[candy]

1. Marty Meehan is an ass-----The Pottery barn comparison proves it

Kennedy makes sense.

[GR]

2. You Cannot Put Humpty Dumpty Back Together Again Either...

I remember Vietnam and everyone said we couldn't leave now that we'd started it...In Going Up River, Kerry testified that we were staying to save face and avoid embarrassment...really avoid admitting a mistake...

Now there is a difference with Bush...he's not just doing it to avoid the appearance of a mistake he really doesn't think he's made a mistake...He doesn't give a flying fuck about democracy or what he calls "freedom," but he does want control of the mideast and now he's got a perfect rationale for staying there and building permanent bases and he's got a land-based staging area to strike other countries take them over too. Plus he can keep an eye on the world's oil supply. Two thirds of the world's known petroleum reserves are right there...

The only way he's gonna leave is if the Muslims beat him or so affect American public opinion that it make it impossible for him to continue his folly. Even then, I don't know if he can be stopped.

[marcologico]

6. Good point. Why would Bush WANT to leave?

It's not like he's facing another election, so as long as Japan and China keep pumping their billion $$ per day of red ink into the treasury why should he think about leaving? Freedom is on the march.

[The Sad Little Pony]

7. Bush has plans...

..for that neighborhood.
Not exit plans, not even OIL plans.
Iraq sits right in the middle...

[kerrygoddess]

9. Iraq... Iran...

[Algorem]

3. 90 minute Nuhtline about why stay? tonight

http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/ Jan. 27, 2005 -- "Iraq: Why Stay?," a special 90-minute "Nightline" town meeting. Ted Koppel hosts a discussion with an expert panel and an audience that includes active and retired military personnel, military families and Iraqi-Americans.

Related: Bush Asks Patience From U.S. on Iraq War
Related: 31 Die in Marine Helicopter Crash in Iraq

[Inland]

4. "If you break it, just keep stomping on the pieces until it turns to dust"

[welshTerrier2]

5. will Kerry follow suit?

i am not a Kerry basher ... if Kerry wants to really step up to the plate and lead the party, that's fine with me ... the job is available for anyone who's willing to stand up and fight for real Democratic values ... as far as i can see, no one's getting the job done right now ...

i have been especially harsh in my recent criticisms of both Kerry and Dean because I think they both have shirked their leadership roles on Iraq ... today's big gold star and a few thousand "atta boys" goes to Ted Kennedy ...

in some ways, Kennedy is such a lightening rod for criticisms of "liberals" that it's too bad he had to take such a high profile on Iraq ... the truth is, though, that neither Kerry nor Dean were anywhere to be found ...

so Teddie said what had to be said ... he stood up against a policy that will never succeed ... the Pottery Barn rule has not been interpreted correctly ... you see, when you break something in a store, you have to pay for it ... fine ... but you don't stay in the store breaking more things ... and if you do, you get kicked out of the store ... we owe Iraq ... we have an obligation to make things right there ... but that's not what we're doing ... Iraq cannot succeed because we are not there to help the Iraqis at all; we're there to help ourselves ...

anyway, the question I have is whether Kerry, Dean or any other Democrat will let "crazy Uncle Ted" hang out there by himself or will they come to their senses and do the right thing for the Iraqi people and the American people as well ... and to anyone who thinks calling for withdrawal will be bad politically, think again ... withdrawal from Iraq is just what the doctor ordered ... or at least it should be ... got that, doctor ???

[kerrygoddess]

8. Kerry is doing the healthcare thing...

Kennedy is on the Iraq issue. They are lining up, picking issues and nailing the Bushies to the wall. Team Work!

[welshTerrier2]

11. Kerry needs to join Kennedy and call for withdrawal

"doing the healthcare thing" is not an excuse for not leading us out of the darkness of bush's Iraq policy ...

it's not "team work" when you fail to make any response to your colleague's call for withdrawal ... if each Senator stands alone on their "pet issue", there's no team work and there's no Party ... all we have then is a bunch of disjointed policies being espoused by a bunch of disjointed individuals ...

and that won't "nail anyone to the wall" ...

Kerry needs to join Kennedy and call for withdrawal ... and not just Kerry, of course, but all the Democrats ...

[Lexingtonian]

10. yep

Good for Ted to get the ball rolling on getting out, but I have the feeling events are going to outrun any such plan.

Allawi is not going to survive assassination efforts for long-he'll become Target Number One the day after the "election". Installing Chalabi as head honch means a country-wide revolt. Installing anyone else other than those two means the Bush people and their military will get told to get packing in a matter of weeks- and the Pentagon will be secretly all too happy to oblige.