Negotiating a Pullout

Despite President Bush's plan for a reduction of 21,500 troops in Iraq, Democrats in Congress are still unhappy with the warplan and are looking for a far more aggressive pullout. As discussed here on CNN.com, the Democrats in the Senate are trying to draft a plan that would gain the support of enough Republicans to bypass the President's plan.

The most interesting idea being tossed around is a plan being pushed by Senator Jim Webb of Viriginia that requires a certain amount of rest for the troops between deployments, effectively lowering troop numbers without explicitly doing so. This plan is supposedly the closest to being up for vote, and is intriguing to several Senators of both parties. No Republican Senators are comfortable with outright opposing the President right now, especially with the President's new attitude of being receptive to troop withdrawal.

Personally, I think a plan like this is the only way the Democrats are going to get any sort of reduction outside of the President's current plan. With the current gap between the two parties growing wider by the day, any plan that is going to be supported by both sides is going to have to be a compromise. With the American public growing more and more tired of the war by the second, this is as good of a time as any with the newfound Democratic strength in Congress to try and press for the beginning of a withdrawal of troops. The key is to avoid alienating any major group of either party. The ultra-liberals will not be happy with a plan that doesn't have a total withdrawal date, but they have to compromise and see this as a beginning instead of being stubborn and refusing to cooperate. Will they? We shall see, but I have a feeling they will. They have a responsibility to the voters to try and act in good faith, and here is a as good of an opportunity as they have had for years in reducing our presence in Iraq.

Another interesting story, this time from the LA Times, discusses the dissent between Bush and Robert Gates, the Secretary of Defense. Gates is in favor of a much more dramatic pullout from Iraq, and hopes to lower troop numbers to 100,000 by next year. He makes an important statement in his views of a change of mission for future U.S. troops, with much more emphasis on counter-terrorism and letting the Iraqis govern themselves.

It is fascinating to see the split in opinion even in the President's own staff. I think this gives further strength to the Democrats in Congress to try and press for less troops. However, I agree with Gates in that setting a deadline for an allout pullout is unrealistic and would be exteremely damaging. It's been four years now and having 200,000 troops still in Iraq is simply moronic, but by setting some arbitrary date (especially any date within the next 18 months) and decreeing that we must "finish up" by then is not going to work.