CNN: Sen. Joe Biden has something to gloat about

[jillan]

Sep. 28: Sen. Joe Biden has something to gloat about. The Deleware Democrat’s amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill calling for a fundamental change of policy in Iraq passed the Senate overwhelmingly Wednesday, 75-23.

The resolution is based on Biden’s long-talked about plan to divide Iraq into three regions based on its ethnic makeup — Sunni, Shia, and Kurd.



“Slowly but surely, we’re building a consensus in the Congress around a way forward in Iraq,” Sen. Biden said after the vote. “That’s significant, because it’s the only real way to end this war.”

“Everyone agrees that there is no military solution in Iraq, only a political solution,” he added. “That begs the question: so, what is your political solution? We have an obligation to answer that question and today, leaders from both parties answered with one voice.”

The resolution also calls on the Bush administration to convene an international conference to help Iraqis agree on a federalized system of government.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/09/26/bidens-plan-splitting-up-iraq-overwhelmingly-passes-senate/

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The Hill:
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/bidens-iraq-plan-scores-senate-win-2007-09-27.html
The Senate found its first bipartisan consensus on the Iraq war Wednesday, dealing a minor rebuke to the Bush administration and a major boost to the long-shot White House run of Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.).
Two of Biden’s presidential rivals, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Chris Dodd (Conn.), joined with fellow Democrats to back the political remedy for Iraq that he has promoted for more than a year. Biden’s amendment calling for a decentralized Iraqi government passed 75-23 and won over 26 Republicans, giving the Foreign Relations Committee chairman a shot in the arm as he headed to Wednesday night’s Democratic debate in New Hampshire.


“We just declared the central animating strategy the president has taken to be mistaken,” Biden said, unable to suppress a grin as he declared his 2008 opponents’ support “nice to see.”

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Go Joe:toast:

[gateley]

1. MAJOR accomplishment "the first bipartisan consensus on the Iraq war"

That's an ENORMOUS step forward. He deserves all the praise he receives for this.

[lyonn]

10. Yes he does, yet the media seems to have brushed this

achievement aside and wants to talk trash. So far today not a word on MSNBC, only station I have had on, concerning this vote let alone mentioning Iraq. Burma, yes, Iraq, No.

Planes burning, rude politicians on flights (they really get into that crap) etc., etc..

[Think82]

2. Yes he does!

for people looking for more information:

http://www.joebiden.com/newscenter/pressreleases?id=0176

[noamnety]

3. So we just voted

on how some other sovereign nation should govern itself?

That's nice.

[KittyWampus]

4. Because allowing factions to exterminant each other is so much more desirable...

[jillan]

5. I was just reading an article that a major Sunni leader in Iraq

has offered basically the same plan. Name of Hashemi.

I will try to find a link, and I am hoping that nsa isn't around because some of this info I am pulling up is in Arabic :P

[Think82]

6. lwfern you obviously did not read my link

A few key facts about the Biden amendment:

* The legislation does not tell Iraqis what to do. It speaks only to what U.S. policy should be.
* Federalism is not a U.S. or foreign imposition on Iraq. Iraq's own constitution calls a "decentralized, federal system" and sets out the powers of the regions (extensive) and those of the central government (limited). The Constitution also says that in case of conflict between regional and national law, regional law prevails.
* Federalism is not partition. In fact, it's probably the only way to prevent partition or, even worse, the total fragmentation of Iraq.
* Federalism will not accelerate sectarian cleansing; it's the only way to stop it. Iraqis are already voting with their feet, as yesterday's article in the New York Times demonstrates. Before the surge, Iraqis were fleeing their homes at a rate of about 40,000 month; now, it's about 100,000 a month. Unless Iraqis come to some kind of agreement on sharing power peacefully, the cleansing will continue.

[Old and In the Way]

7. Why is this a good thing?

Iraq had a strong national identity, before we broke it. The last poll I read is that they want to retain the central government. While I understand that the balkanization of Iraq may be the end result of our actions there, why is this necessarily in the Iraqi's best interests? What it does do is make the oil easier to steal. You do know that the reason the government has been on hiatus is that they don't want to pass a constitution that gives Big Oil 80% of the revenue, right? A unified state that has control of its oil resources is not in Big Oil's best interests. Far better to negotiate with 3 regions with lesser resources than one state. Is this what Joe is promoting?

[Think82]

8. Old and in the way

nice name, btw. Big Jerry Garcia fan. I would take exception with your statement "Iraq had a strong national identity before we invaded." Under a dictator who MADE Iraqi's support him by authoritarian dictatorship? Iraq was formed artificially after the World War. This is the best way to alleviate the mistake of the past while keeping Iraq loosely knit together. It is not about Oil. It is about keeping Iraq and the region from completely splintering into a Sunni-Shia regional war.

Please read the link above for more info.

[Old and In the Way]

13. Me too!

I understand Iraq's artificial history. But there's a $100 Trillion dollars worth of Iraqi oil reserves in play. Somehow, I suspect that the whole reason for this invasion and occupation has to with that 1 fact. Now, if that's true, who benefits from a weak, decentralized Iraqi? The oil companies of course. Bush invaded, perhaps with the fantastic idea that Iraq would be so happy ridding themselves of Saddam that they'd happily turn the oil ministry over to the Republican Party. That didn't happen. Now that we've pretty much destroyed the state, now the solution is to break it up. OK, that may now be of necessity. But the big winner in this strategy will be the oil companies. The Iraqi people will end up with neither a state nor their oil wealth.

[jillan]

16. I agree that the whole success of Iraq depends on their distribution of oil.

And damn this administration and Hunt oil for making the oil problem worse as well.

[Old and In the Way]

20. Which makes the whole "bi-partisanship" aspect of this legislation

rather suspect. I can believe that Joe wants to end the carnage...but I can also believe that the Republicans see this as the way to get the oil that motivated the invasion in the 1st place. Had Joe included a paragraph that said "and the Iraqi people will have complete and exclusive rights to their oil"...I wonder how many Republicans would have signed on? But perhaps the Iraqis are smarter then we give them credit for being....about the only thing all 3 major factions agreed on was they did not like the PSA and I believe created a boycott of their congress to avoid signing it into law. Will a partitioned Iraq resolve that? If not, will the fighting continue in spite of a rearrangement of the chairs? Stay tuned.

[jillan]

9. Read this:

Federalism in Iraq
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federalism_in_Iraq

About the oil -
Biden's plan for Iraq asks that the oil revenues be split by regions. But unfortunately for that part of the plan - Hunt Oil kinda f*ed that up, didn't they?

You do know that Biden's son Beau is due to go to Iraq after the first of the year, don't you?
To quote an old song - "He's no fortunate son".
Knowing that - do you really think that Biden wants to be in Iraq to get their oil? That he would trade his son's life for oil?
Think about that.

[Old and In the Way]

15. I'm not implying any ulterior motives to Biden at all.

I do think Biden, as a very senior Senate Democrat, went along with the whole IWR and justified our invasion. But I don't see him benefiting personally from this. I also know that breaking Iraq into 3 autonomous regions may now be the only pragmatic solution to stop the killings and the refugee situation. But I'm not toasting this resolution as a great day for American diplomacy, either. This facilitates the acquisition of the Iraqi oil assets. A decentralized and impoverished Iraq will have no choice but to privitize their oil infrastructure and play ball with Big Oil on their terms. We win, the Iraqis lose....again. Hooray for us!

[jillan]

17. I'm not even going to go into Biden's IWR vote here - there is more to that

than meets the eye - but as far as the oil - I answered you in an earlier link.

All I can say is that I hope everyone in this administration goes to hell for not only invading Iraq, but now making any progress in Iraq pushed back even further because of Hunt oil.

[Old and In the Way]

21. We can agree on that!

"All I can say is that I hope everyone in this administration goes to hell for not only invading Iraq, but now making any progress in Iraq pushed back even further because of Hunt oil." :toast:

[Dawgs]

11. I agree with Kucinich.

You can divide up a country and expect it to survive with conflict.

[jillan]

14. A major Sunni leader - Hashemi has come out and offered a similar plan in Iraq.

A Sistani - a major Shi'ite leader is leaning in this direction.

Maybe - just maybe - Biden knows what he speaks.

Who am I to know for sure - but if major players in Iraq are willing to break away from the bsh administration and move towards the Biden plan.... maybe he is alot smarter than even I give him credit for.

[yellerpup]

12. Good show.

You have my respect!

[kad7777]

18. Couldn't be prouder...

...to have someone like Joe Biden working hard for America. If he were elected, I'd be sleeping better.

[jillan]

19. and I could get off this dam computer and get the things done

that I should be doing :P

[ginchinchili]

22. Good to see this significant step getting some air time

The fact that Biden could bring Democrats and Republicans together and pass something in opposition to Bush insane war strategy deserves our attention. Biden has the right experience to not only pry ourselves out of Iraq with the least amount of fallout, but can also get people on the other side of the aisle on board. There is no one running who is more qualified in deal with Iraq than Joe Biden, and Iraq is the biggest issue facing our country.

[MetalCanuck]

23. I think solders should just leave but I will give him this...its better than nothing.

[ncteechur]

24. I agree 100%--at least he's leading something. I have to say the others

are not leading much. Biden is the most outspoken with a workable solution to Iraq. The others yip and yap about getting out or not but haven't proposed anything. What has Obama proposed? Any legislation about the war or a political solution? Nope. Don't think so. Hillary? Nope.

I'm torn between Edwards and Biden.