Third Way Dispatch

As is now painfully apparent, President Bush responded to the wake up call on Iraq that the voters delivered in November by hitting the snooze button. Firing Donald Rumsfeld, the barest minimum of a response that he could offer, was as far as he was willing to go. Since then, it’s been stay the course, as he’s simply ignored the will of the American people and reality on the ground. More of the same failed strategy, and still no plan from his Administration to end the war in Iraq and put America back on the offensive against al Qaeda and its allies.

The Bush rhetoric about progress in Iraq has moved beyond distortion and into fantasy. The orgy of violence continues, despite the surge. 100 Iraqis were killed yesterday – and few outside Iraq truly noticed. But to read the heartbreaking story in today’s New York Times about the failure – despite facing enormous danger, doing their level best and using every means at their disposal – of American and Iraqi troops to protect one Sunni woman is to peer into the hopeless abyss that Iraq has become for the US. We must not, cannot, stay this course.

Well thankfully, Congress has finally put away its rubber stamp. Now, reflecting the overwhelming sentiment of the American people, they have taken a stand. Instead of more of the same, they’re saying NO, loudly and clearly. They have rejected the President’s peddling of illusion and his petulant refusal to change direction in a war that has driven our military, our standing the in the world and our core national security interests to the brink of catastrophe.

We applaud those in Congress – from the leadership to the freshmen – who crafted and fought to pass a tough and smart measure that will finally start bringing to a close America’s misadventure in Iraq. A timetable for withdrawal, which we have been advocating, is the only way to force the Administration to deal with reality: the US will not remain indefinitely in the middle of Iraq’s civil war, and the time has come for the Iraqi government, the Administration and the other regional players to fashion a long-term plan for Iraqi stability. We salute those on the right and the left, Democrats and Republicans, who recognized these realities, put aside partisanship and did what is best for our country and our security.

The drawdown provision in the Iraq Supplemental bill is not meddling or micromanaging the war – it is taking seriously the role that Congress must play as a co-equal branch of government. And given the Bush intransigence, this step not only is responsible, it’s imperative. The only way to preserve America’s national security interests is to begin extracting ourselves from Iraq, creating a new, more realistic strategy in the Middle East and getting back on the offensive against a resurgent and global al Qaeda, along with our grave security challenges in Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Somalia, and elsewhere. As we outlined in a recent report, Beyond Bush, America must shift our strategy from the Bush doctrine of conversion (i.e. democracy by force) to one of constriction, a focused effort that uses all of our power – military, intelligence, economic and diplomatic – to cut off all of al Qaeda’s supply lines, severely constricting their ability to wage war against us.

These are dangerous and confusing times for America – what we need now is even more of the clear-eyed realistic assessment of America’s security interests that a bi-partisan majority in Congress delivered this week.