Let me be clear: there is no military solution in Iraq, and there never was.
Begin to Remove U.S. Troops NOW
The best way to protect our security and to pressure Iraq's leaders to resolve their civil war is to immediately begin to remove our combat troops. Not in six months or one year - NOW!
We should enter into talks with the Iraqi government to discuss the process of our drawdown. We must get out strategically and carefully, removing troops from secure areas first, and keeping troops in more volatile areas until later.
But our drawdown should proceed at a steady pace of one or two brigades each month. If we start now, all of our combat brigades should be out of Iraq by the end of next year.
Some Non-Combat Forces Must Remain in Iraq
We will need to retain some forces in Iraq and the region. We'll continue to strike at al Qaeda in Iraq. We'll protect our forces as they leave, and we will continue to protect U.S. diplomats and facilities.
If - but only if - Iraq makes political progress and their security forces are not sectarian, we should continue to train and equip those forces.
But we will set our own direction and our own pace, and our direction must be out of Iraq. The future of our military, our foreign policy, and our national purpose cannot be hostage to the inaction of the Iraqi government.
Removing our troops is part of applying real pressure on Iraq's leaders to end their civil war. Some argue that we should just replace Prime Minister Maliki. But that wouldn't solve the problem.
We shouldn't be in the business of supporting coups. And remember - before Maliki, we said that we just needed to replace the last Prime Minister to make everything all right. It didn't work.
U.N. Should Push New Iraqi Constitutional Convention
The problems in Iraq are bigger than one man. Iraq needs a new Constitutional convention that would include representatives from all levels of Iraqi society - in and out of government.
The United Nations should play a central role in convening and participating in this convention, which should not adjourn until a new accord on national reconciliation is reached.
To reconcile, the Iraqis must also meet key political benchmarks outside of the Constitutional process, including new local elections and revising debaathification.
Now the Iraqis may come out of this process choosing some kind of soft partition into three regions - one Sunni, one Shia, one Kurd. But it must be their choice. America should not impose the division of Iraq.
STEP TWO: Fresh Approach to Reconciliation within Iraq
While we change the dynamic within Iraq, we must surge our diplomacy in the region.
At every stage of this war, we have suffered because of disdain for diplomacy:
- We have not brought allies to the table.
- We have refused to talk to people we don't like.
- And we have failed to build a consensus in the region.
We need to launch the most aggressive diplomatic effort in recent history to reach a new compact in the region.
This effort should include all of Iraq's neighbors, and we should also bring in the United Nations Security Council. All of us have a stake in Iraq's stability. It's time to make this less about what America is trying to do for Iraq, and more about what the world can do with Iraq.
This compact must:
- secure Iraq's borders;
- keep neighbors from meddling;
- isolate al Qaeda; and
- support Iraq's unity.
That means pressing Sunni states like Saudi Arabia to stop the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq, increase their financial support of reconstruction efforts, and encourage Iraqi Sunnis to reconcile with their fellow Iraqis.
And that means turning the page on the Bush-Cheney policy of not talking to Syria and Iran. Conventional thinking in Washington says Presidents cannot lead this diplomacy. But I think the American people know better.
Not talking doesn't make us look tough - it makes us look arrogant. And it doesn't get results. Strong Presidents tell their adversaries where they stand, and that's what I would do. That's how tough and principled diplomacy works.
STEP THREE: Press Iraq's Neighbors for a Regional Compact
And that's what we need to press Syria and Iran to stop being part of the problem in Iraq.
Iran poses a grave challenge. It builds a nuclear program, supports terrorism, and threatens Israel with destruction.
But we hear eerie echoes of the run-up to the war in Iraq in the way that the President and Vice President talk about Iran.
- They conflate Iran and al Qaeda, ignoring the violent schism that exists between Shiite and Sunni militants.
- They issue veiled threats.
- They suggest that the time for diplomacy and pressure is running out when we haven't even tried direct diplomacy.
