[UPDATE: The presentation is now over. Learn more at ResponsiblePlan.com.]
Darcy Burner and nine fellow Democratic challengers release their “Responsible Plan For Ending The War In Iraq” today at the Take Back America conference in Washington DC. The presentation is scheduled to begin at 2:30PM PT (though don’t be surprised if it’s a few minutes late), and you can download a PDF of the Responsible Plan here.
That was great! Go, Darcy! Go Dems!
so what, in short, is the plan for those of us who can’t get that video to work or pdf to load?
you know gravel has had a plan to exit in 120 days from iraq. and he is running for an office that actually has the power to do it. not that i don’t respect, admire, and encourage burner and anyone in or seeking office to get the hell out of iraq asap.
Proposals for Operations in Iraq…………………………………………………………………………………………………..12
* End the military action in Iraq and transition control of
and responsibility for Iraq to the Iraqis……………………………………………………………………………12
Troop drawdown
Combat terrorism and extremists
* Create the capacity for nation-building and the use of
diplomatic power by both the United States and
the international community……………………………………………………………………………………………13
Revitalize and reorganize the State Department for the 21st century
Create capacity in the State Department for nation-building
and reconstruction
Develop capacity for economic reconstruction
Expand the capacity and role of the international community in Iraq’s nation-building process
* Commit to human rights…………………………………………………………………………………………………. 15
Address the refugee crisis in Iraq
Hold perpetrators of war crimes responsible
Protect the rights of women and minorities
A RESPONSIBLE PLAN TO END THE WAR IN IRAQ
Preventing Future Iraqs……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 17
* Repair damage to constitutional processes and
restore transparency and accountability………………………………………………………………………… 17
Incorporate ongoing war funding into the normal
Congressional budgeting process
Restore Transparency and Accountability
Eliminate signing statements
Restore the guarantee of habeas corpus
End warrantless spying on U.S. citizens
Restore American Moral Standing in the World
End detainee torture and rendition
Restore our military
Reduce U.S. government reliance on unregulated private militias
Fund veterans care
Make service to the United States a path up in life; new GI bill
Remove Fraud and Abuse from U.S. Contracting Process
Restore Public Trust in Media
Create a Clean Energy Economy
__________________________________
That’s part of the index. Do you have Adobe Reader? You shouldn’t have a problem getting the file. The video was a live stream and is over now.
Also, the pdf is 36 pages, so it’s not a huge file.
Lily
What are you smoking?
All that easy stuff and free health care AND balance the budget. America, fuck yeah!
I see a lot of generalizations….but short on specifics.
The introduction of the Plan is merely a political piece….in fact, so is most of the so-called “Plan”.
Will be interesting to see it disected by the Media.
Oh wait…they won’t ask any hard questions.
I forgot.
YAAAWWWWWNNNN! There’s so much fat in that document that Darcy should expect a call from NurtiSystem any day now.
Darcy’s future ad: “I used to have a 36-page document — full of summaries and summaries of summaries and summaries and restatements of plans to develop a plan — but thanks to NutriSystem, it has slimmed down to a dozen real paragraphs.”
This is just like Teddy Kennedy’s press conferences of the past: “Our Plan is… to write a PLAN!” or “Our Plan is… to direct the President to come up with a plan!”
Some of the ideas are all fine and well. In fact, other than some of the deliberate grandstanding and political jabs (which have no place in a document supposedly about solutions), there are plenty of GOALS that both sides can agree on. What is missing — and is usually missing in press conference documents like these — is the actual SOLUTION.
OK, Darcy, pretend you’re in charge. What actions, EXACTLY, will you execute to attain these goals? None of this “… direct the President to develop a solution to…” crap. As they tell my kids in math class, “you have to show your work.”
Without actually doing the hard part, this is simply “Responsible GOALS When Ending The War In Iraq.”
Mr. Cynical @ 8
‘The introduction of the Plan is merely a political piece….in fact, so is most of the so-called “Plan”.’
No shit, Sherlock…getting the U.S. out of Iraq while minimizing damage to Iraq and restoring America’s image in the world is, inherently, a political problem.
ok i went away and came back but still nobody has said what the plan is as far as when withdrawal starts and ends. i went to the website and read the “executive summary” but it was more than vague about the timeline. i could read the 36 page report and try to find it but isn’t that what an executive summary is supposed to tell me? i don’t think the plan even has a timeline.
i am not a troll but an actual 8th cd activist and i want to know what the plan is? i wanted to know when i was doorbelling in 06 and unable to say clearly that burner was for getting the hell out of iraq then. what is so hard about committing to getting out of a fraudulent occupation that 2/3 of iraqis and merkans want out of? even if burner, edwards, et al. say out in x days it will still be an uphill battle with the entrenched idiots in the federal government so why not just say the truth: it is irresponsible not to get out asap and give us a goal to get out. i know gravel gets dissed and has little money but at least he has a clear time to try to get out. courage is scarce.
This is very disappointing.
I read the entire thing.
There is no plan here, rather there are a series of well meaning principles that do not address the central issue of HOW to get there from here.
Troop Withdrawl
Other than saying the process should remove all troops, there is no plan for how this is to be accomplished. Not a word beyond the statement that there should be a tkimetable and no idefiniteon of hwat that might mean.
A plan should address regional security issues. the future of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, involvement of India and China, etc. None pf this is here.
Alliances
Is there anyone who does not understand that we need allies and a better way of dealing with the neighbors? No? Well posing that question is about the extent of this plan.
Even then several obvious key issues are left unaddressed:
Role of the US navy and other navies in the future control of the Indian Ocean.
How to stabilize the Kurds.
Relationship to Israel and Egypt.
Relationship to existing regional military cooperation groups.
Relationship to the UN!
Milestones
Any planner knows that milestones are critical, none are offered.
I want to comment on my last post and why I signed it with my full name.
I take politics VERY seriously. I admire the folks in this community but I am very unhappy with this release of a plan.
Such tin soup says smething very worrisome about Darcy.
The fact is that Iraq is a mess and I want to support people who, as Obama says, will be smart about how we get out. We have had 8 years of well intentioned amateurish government. We do not need more form the R or the L.
We all have a big emotional investment in Darcy. If she announces something as grand as a plan, then there should be meat on the bones, or at least TOFU.
I would really like to see something more thoughtful.
Stephen Schwartz
Seattle Jew
Answers for SJ:
Role of the US navy and other navies in the future control of the Indian Ocean.
– to stay out of foreign adventures.
How to stabilize the Kurds.
– the Turks will handle that, and probably some Iranians, too.
Relationship to Israel and Egypt.
– arm’s length at all times.
Relationship to existing regional military cooperation groups.
– see above.
Relationship to the UN!
– don’t renew our membership, but wish them no harm as they leave New York for some place like Brussels.
Goldy,
Can you honestly say that you see any “meat” on the bones of this “Plan?”
I know that we on the other side of the aisle give you plenty of grief for being blindly partisan, but the lack of substance here seems to be obvious to both sides.
I soo looked forward to this, and was beyond disappointed in this “plan”…no timelines, no real plans, no goals, nothing of substance!?! From Burner I expected a lot more depth.
Darcy Burner in government seems like having the Avon lady design the next advanced tactical fighter jet.
Uhhh… Goldy??
Did you happen to check who is actually behind this document? Is it a commission or even a partisan think tank or some other confab of those in the know or think-they-know? Nope.
This is the product of a PR firm!
“…[Wired for Change] work[s] with our clients to capitalize on timely political opportunities and quickly build and launch websites and online campaigns. A key to our success is that we identify clever, niche actions for our clients that fit within broader narratives”
I should have seen it from the get-go. You take a bunch of goals, thrown in some language from a respected (and especially bipartisan) commission, tack on a few military bigwigs and… PRESTO! Instant foreign policy cred for your candidates!
Note what is actually said: Darcy endorses the plan. It isn’t her plan. She just says she agrees with it. So, Goldy, perhaps you should edit the part of your post that says, “Darcy Burner and nine fellow Democratic challengers release their “… Plan…” and properly say:
“Darcy Burner and nine other Democratic clients of Wired for Change agree with this plan that has been nicely formatted by their PR consultants and hosted on a site owned by the PR firm (dba Responsible Plan Media LLC).”
Oh… and one last thing… If I was their client, I’d fire them in a second for lousy grammar. Their site says “List of Endorsees.” That means those who RECEIVE endorsement. They should have written ENDORSERS.
The U.S. does not have enough troops to remain in Iraq at the current levels indefinitely. The limitations on
troop availability will demand some drawdown in the short term.29 While the current administration and its
allies may seek to portray a return pre-surge troop levels as the beginning of a military withdrawal, it is not
enough to reduce troop levels to pre-surge levels. We must end the presence in Iraq of U.S. troops.
This should be accomplished based on planning provided by our military leadership; the safety of our
remaining troops during the drawdown period is of utmost importance. Moreover, the drawdown of troops
must be coordinated with increased civil and economic assistance, and executed in such a way as to
contain the threat of terrorism and prevent an abrupt destabilization of the region.
——————————–
This is (much) less a plan and more a set of vague objectives with no clear path provided for getting from a to z: “. . . executed in such a way as to
contain the threat of terrorism and prevent an abrupt destabilization of the region”? And what if preventing mass chaos from breaking out requires leaving troops in for two more years, three more years? Is that acceptable?
Nothing new added to the discussion here.
This is remin9scent of the sort of half assed campaigning Hillary has done under the ghudance of Mark Penn. Is Wired for Change related to Penn?
Look, Darcy is a LOT brighter than this. I urge her to follow on as rapidy as possible with some much more thooughtful plan, describing this as the first step .. the legislative agenda needed to achoeve a plan.
Persoanlly I do not believe we can withdraw within the time frames either Obam or Hillary have d3escribed. On the other hand we can not stay either as we lack the resources. Saying so is a good first step.
Then one has to propose a plan. Perhaps the plan might be for disengagement6. I.e. that after a time certain US forces will assume a defensive role. The trouble with any real plan, as Obama’s adviser said, is that the plan MUST be contingent.
For example, getting out of the North IS pssoble4, IF we can come to some understanding with the indigenous Kurds and the Turks. A more difficult issue ois whether we can come to an agreeement with Iran about allowing the Southern gangs to fight iot out without outside interference. Any plan that does not deal with this as a contingency is nonsense. Worst of all is the situation in Baghdad. A paln shuld set out biundary conditions for our being able to leave Bghdad. This may be as little as deciding to vacte the effin place while maintianing enough forces so that the holocaust that is likley to occur can be contained.
Frankly, rather than any plan with so many ifs, it seesm to me that goal number one has to be a restoration fo traditional diplomacy. I wonder if China and India might, as contries whose skirts are fairly clean in this affair, be induced to work together to hold a conference on how best to extricate the US and replace it (us) with a local or UN force to maintain stability. We might end up having to give up a lot but what else can you do?
Actually the radical left wing of the Democrat party will not stand for anything less then immediate FULL withdrawl in 30 days.
4,000 lives…. wow that’s a lot. Nothing compared to how many innocent people get killed in liberal run big cities. Did you know that your average murder victim never enlisted to be murdered! Amazing but true. Don’t we need more gun free zones??? What do we do with the criminals that can not read “gun free zone”? What about Midnight basketball??? Darcy please help us.
Dave Reichert – a hero of uncorruption = the NEW face of the GOP for decades to come! Down with Sarah Palin!
@22 Jane’s Dog
Right on sister.
True we have lost 4000 heroes, but their blood is the nutrient our society runs on! Each of those fallen men and women will act like the fish the Injuns planted to make the corn grow!
I know this sounds corny to the libruls, but every inch of this great country was purchased witht the blood of these 4000. When a country is no longer to spend the blood of its young, the country is ready to die.
13 “We have had 8 years of well intentioned amateurish government.”
Holy Moses’ sacred Kosher goat, Stephen….how much lab alcohol punch have you been knocking back lately?
“Self-serving, avaricious totally incompetent mis-government” is more like it.
Oh, and while we’re being all honest and everything:
Art Marriott
artm@axenhammer.com
Feel free to pollute my inbox.
22 So….murder justifies more murder.
You’re even fucking dumb for a dog.
15 There’s plenty of “meat”.
The human variety.
Butchered. All over the plot of miserable ground that was once Iraq.
The meat that came from America gets shipped back to America.
The rest gets left to sit and rot.
This is “world leadership”? Feh!
@25 I am fed up with people who need to demonize others for any reason.
Isn’t it enough that Bush is way over his head, that his Party leaders should have stepped in long ago to protect the rest of us from him? Id it better t think the man is evil? will that bring back any lives?
Same thing for those who want to just get out. How many lives, US and Iraqui, would you spend to enjoy the debacle of a badly planned withdrawal? Anf the aftermath .. wouldn’t it be better to plan and make the ebst of the mess?
Nahhh /// lets all behave as if we were librul versions of the Bush. To stupid to survive.
22 So….murder justifies more murder.
You’re even fucking dumb for a dog.
03/17/2008 at 9:03 pm
Bush can’t help it…. hell those idiots in the military are reenlisting to get murdered. What the hell is suppose to do???? Or as my friend snoop would say Bush has a shitizle load of soldizels… dig.
How many lives, US and Iraqui, would you spend to enjoy the debacle of a badly planned withdrawal?
How many lives….hmmmm. So if each member of a family of 50 knows one person can we count it as 50 even if they were talking about the same person???? You know apply liberal counting practices. If yes that’s easy.. millions upon millions are dying. Down with Bush.
But… but… Dave Reichert has renounced earmarks (i.e money for Wa 8th district) as soon as he is re-elected!!!!
Now, there is some meat!
… well, not so much meat, as pork. And he has renounced it!!
After he is re-elected! No more federal funds for my home district! How can I not vote for a man who promises to give me nothing for my tax dollars?
I am very, very drunk, and thinking of voting for Dave Reichert!!
Now I know how it feels to be Mark The Redneck! (except, I will not blow my paycheck on pulltabs, marry a crack addict, lose half a mil on alimony, welsh on a bet, or self abuse myself into unconsciousness)
Other than that, I feel just like Mark The Redneck!!
Thank you alcohol!!!
What is up with all these Repubs switching their affiliation to democrat, are we losing members. Wait that is Rush the vote… never mind. Go Hillary. hehehehe
guess darcys plan comes from her civil air patrol days.what a fuckin loser.
Thank you PU, for that timely PSA warning children to never take drugs, or ever listen to a republican.
B.O. @ 34
Not timely enough to help Barack… :(
Perhaps he should argue that he was HIGH when attending the church, so he has no memory of what happened. It seems that most of the country gave him a pass on the drug use, so why not take advantage??
Obama is in absolute freefall in every poll.
His speech tomorrow ought to be priceless!
He has already denied knowing about any Jeremiah Wright hate-speech. 20 years as Obama’s “spiritual adviser”.
Obama was given a free pass by the MSM.
Now here is an issue Obama cannot avoid…so he is making a speech.
My projection–
The speech will make it worse for him..and the Dems are stuck with him as a nominee.
Am I a racist for saying Obama is a poor candidate when fully vetted??
NEWS FLASH–
Burner confesses her “Plan” was merely a St. Paddy’s Day joke! She went on to apologize to the KLOWNS @ HA who actually believed she was capable of anything meaningful.
Lots of feelgood platitudes.
Zero substance.
Reichert thanks Darcy for handing him an election issue…her idea of a “Plan”!
You want a responsible plan to end the war in Iraq? Here’s mine:
Impeach Bush + Cheney
Retard Rabbit @ 38
Ye-ouch! Guess you’ve forgotten your HS civics, huh? Guess the gov’t. put you out to pasture just in time!
Impeachment isn’t going to change a thing. Clinton was impeached and served out his term — including his final pardon-o-rama.
Why don’t you go dig up Stefan’s yard and leave the conversation to those without need for Aricept.
Hopefully there is a good lesson here.
Pandering ought to be the new flip flop. Promises yu do not mean should be forced by the effin media to the wall. You want to promise universal health care. then the media OUGHT to poi9nt out this means a huge increase in FICA. You want to keep Bushoes tax give away7s? Well tell us who will pay for them.
When it comes to Iraq, Sam Power told the truth. NO plan can cover all possible consequences. Saying anyhting lese, wht5her it is BHO or HRC is pandering.
Maybe we should have the pander awards?
Stephan, aka SJ, you sound like a nihilist.
While I admire your realism, I deplore your fatalism.
For Ghahds sake man, show some back bone and place a bet.
It may be meaningless, but you could win.
Maybe a nice girl, or safe respectable job!
Must you be such a goyim?
I am NOT a nihilist at all. Rather I am hopeful and a fervent Obama supporter,
What I would like to say is a far more honest media. We need to unveil naked emperors
Wonder if Obama and his ho are proud of America now
that they exposed their worthless fucking asses.
42 Bush and the members of his Imperial Court aren’t naked. They use the flesh of us “lesser” Americans in place of clothes.
And underwear.
And handkerchiefs.
And toilet paper.
C’mon, folks. This war wasn’t a “mistake”, any more than Spitzer “accidentally” paid $1000 an hour to fuck a girl only a couple years older than one of his daughters.
They did it because they wanted to, and because they could.
@42 ArtFart
I would l;ike tpo think the world is more complex than you suggest.
Darcy should get back to working on real issues that matter to her constituents….
“Now that it’s Easter, should we dress up the traffic circles with dafodils or daisies”….. More her speed.
By the way, I just love the fact that Hillary trumped the gang of wannabees with a speech on her Iraq policy at the very same time…….Booyah!!
can’t download pdf version of plan – want to spread word – someone please pass this message to Responsible Plan Media, LLC. – too important to have web site problems – thanks
Dave Davis
Dave @ 47
You’re not missing much. The “plan” mainly consists of regurgitated Iraq Study Group bullet points, a smattering of finger-pointing and then some buck-passing to the Executive Branch. There aren’t any really new ideas in there — and definitely no concrete solutions.
What the conservatives are missing is that Liberals running for office are developing plans, yes GOALS, to end the war in Iraq.
If any of you had any military experience you’d know how complicated a withdrawal of this magnitude is and it would be wholly inappropriate to for Darcy Burner to layout the details of such a complex military operation.
The best course of action for her is to state a goal and leave the operational details of those goals to the men and women who have trained at our finest military institutions on it’s execution.
BUT, the real red herring argument here is not what Darcy would do, but WHAT is Bush doing to win the war??
Militarily, the surge has worked perfectly to this point. The military has injected 30,000 more men and women who have made the sacrifices with life, blood and isolation from family.
But diplomatically, Bush has failed our brave men in women who serve our nation heroically.
Bush is more concerned with protecting Telecom companies from potential lawsuits related to his authorization for criminal wrong doing, than solving our nation’s greatest military crisis.
McCain inextricably tied himself to Bush and his lousy war policies and that is precisely why he will lose to either Democratic candidate in the fall.