THE Iraqi Government will announce a sweeping peace plan as early as Sunday in a last-ditch effort to end the Sunni insurgency that has taken the country to the brink of civil war.
The 28-point package for national reconciliation will offer Iraqi resistance groups inclusion in the political process and an amnesty for their prisoners if they renounce violence and lay down their arms, The Times can reveal.
The Government will promise a finite, UN-approved timeline for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Iraq; a halt to US operations against insurgent strongholds; an end to human rights violations, including those by coalition troops; and compensation for victims of attacks by terrorists or Iraqi and coalition forces.
It will pledge to take action against Shia militias and death squads. It will also offer to review the process of “de-Baathification†and financial compensation for the thousands of Sunnis who were purged from senior jobs in the Armed Forces and Civil Service after the fall of Saddam Hussein.
The deal, which has been seen by The Times, aims to divide Iraqi insurgents from foreign fighters linked to al-Qaeda. It builds on months of secret talks involving Jalal al-Talabani, the Iraqi President, Zalmay Khalilzad, the US Ambassador, and seven Sunni insurgent groups.
As Chris Bowers points out, this says that for the past several months, while Bush and his minions have hurled scorn and vituperation on anyone who even thinks about a timeline for withdrawal — the Bush Administration has in fact been involved in negotiations that will propose a timeline for withdrawal.
The Times doesn’t say that the White House will accept all of the conditions, however. Seems to me this puts the White House in an uncomfortable position — if it rejects the terms, and especially if the U.S. is the sole holdout, this would create a campaign issue so big, fat, and juicy that even the Democrats might see it. We had a way out and we didn’t take it! Iraq asked us to leave, and we didn’t go!
On the other hand, if the Bushies accept the terms and begin a withdrawal, there goes Karl Rove’s midterm campaign strategy. And the hawks and congresspersons who’ve had Bush’s back on “staying the course” are likely to feel betrayed, not to mention the righties who loyally supported the war.
In that event, we lefties can grab the popcorn and sit back to watch the Right dance the cognitive dissonance waltz.
If past behavior is any guide, their tactic will be to paint Bush’s cutting and running as a manly and dignified cutting and running, whereas Democrat calls for cutting and running were a symptom of PMS.
We see the beginnings of this effort at Q and O:
Democrats should welcome this, but let’s not confuse the difference between the two timelines. One was arbitrary and the other is based on the conditions as seen on the ground by the country in question. One reflects politics and the other reflects an assessment of the real situation. Of course it is all predicated on the acceptance of the plan by the soon to be named Sunni insurgent groups.
Having listened to John Kerry’s speech at Take Back America last week, I know that Kerry planned to tie a timeline for withdrawal to conditions on the ground, also. He talked specifically about pressuring Iraq to take responsibility for its own security, allowing U.S. troops to withdraw. As he argued here, the Iraqi government seems to act decisively only when presented with a deadline. “Now we must set another deadline to extricate our troops and get Iraq up on its own two feet.”
John Murtha’s proposal also allows for realities on the ground. Among other provisions for security, he proposed creating a quick reaction force in the region and an “over-the-horizon presence of Marines.”
These details never seem to filter through to righties. I blame Faux Nooz.
OMG, that sweeping peace plan gives me sudden hope that we can bring our guys and gals home. Kudos to whomever actually brings the peace plan to fruition!
Then another voice in me says, ‘Yeah, but what about all those who’ve planned from the beginning to stay in Iraq to control oil resources?!’
Whew, I want to stay with the hopeful feeling, but I just dropped into a trough of reality that says the oil buddies, Bush and Cheney, will stall and play this idea one way until after the November election, then find some ‘plausible’ new justification to stay in Iraq forever.
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I for one would love to see the new Iraqi government win this insurgent war, and get our troops out. Apparently this will be the only way our troops will ever leave. It may put the GOP in a bind politically but who cares? The GOP may be able to claim Victory (for the second time) and claim that their blind persistence has paid off, but who cares? The important thing is that we get our troops the hell out of there as soon as possible. I don’t care who wins politically. This bit of reporting from Iraq is what I would call “good newsâ€.
It won’t work..It might offer Bush an escape route, but it doesn’t give the Sunnis what they have been fighting for. Offers to review don’t mean a whole hell of a lot when the Shias will be holding the reigns of power. And why would the Sunnis accept a deal that is devised specifically to weaken their hand by separating out an asset that can’t be quantified for it’s effectiveness in helping them achieve their goals. The Sunnis would be destroying their strength to step into a weakened position, and the fact that Bush is negotiating with them shows them that they are achieving their goals.
It also has to be kept in mind that Zalmay Khalilzad was one of the crafters of the Project for the New American Century and can’t be trusted to act as an honest broker in America’s behalf.His accolades as an accomplished diplomat by his achievements in Afghanistan are starting to show signs that they are greater in illusion than in deed. He doesn’t possess the skills or the honesty to negociate anything of substance, he’s as shifty as they come.. Also there will never be an accord of any sort if amnesty is not granted to all parties unconditionally, because they have all employed terror.
Swami,
I must respectfully say fuck the “Sunnis”. We have been there too long now; let the neocons have their exit strategy. It don’t matter who wins at this point, the important thing is that we leave before we really become occupiers. (See Israel) If this adventure don’t end soon it may never end, if the war was wrong to start it can’t be wrong to end. Don’t get caught up in phony politics that got us in. Phony politics won’t let us out.
Swami, I did not realize that Khalilzad was a PNAC fellow! Egad.
uncledad, nobody is getting ‘caught up in phony politics’. Seems like we should, though, look into this to be alert to whether phony politicking is involved.
This morning, the NYT article on the same topic of the sweeping peace plan really really downplayed the point about coalition troops withdrawing. I think the NYT article gave that point one iffy sentence.
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