(The Responsible Plan was announced last night at Take Back America. It is a smart proposal to responsibly end the war in Iraq, and Rick Noriega is the responsible choice to represent us in Washington D.C. - promoted by Matt Glazer)
Last night, 10 congressional candidates unveiled “The Responsible Plan To End The War In Iraq.” The Plan, as both a policy and a political strategy is brilliant:
The Plan is a two-pronged strategy. First and foremost, it is a comprehensive set of ideas and concrete policy proposals to get America out of Iraq quickly, safely, and responsibly. It draws heavily from the mostly ignored Iraq Study Group Report and it points to specific bills in Congress that can be passed today to end the war in the right way.
"The Responsible Plan To End The War In Iraq" is not only good policy, it's good strategy too. With 10 candidates all signed on to one specific plan (and hopefully with more to come), you have the beginnings of a real anti-war voting block in Congress. If these members get elected while promoting this plan vocally and visibly, they will have an unimpeachable mandate when they get to Washington. Because this plan involves more than one candidate, there will be stronger pressure not to cave or compromise when the tough votes come up on the floor.
So far, no Senate candidates have endorsed this plan. I think Rick Noriega should be the first. Why? Because he already has in so many words. This is what Rick says on his website about Iraq:
Rick is running for Senate to responsibly end the war and bring our troops safely home, with a phased military re-deployment that responsibly extracts our forces from Iraq’s civil wars, and brings home the funding spent on the war to invest in education and health care.
This is the Plan’s mission, too:
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.
Noriega has endorsed, in his own words, many key points of the Plan. The Plan places a high premium on nation-building and diplomacy, especially dialouge with Iraq’s neighbors, to help end the war. Noriega believes in diplomacy too:
The past eight years of foreign policy has demonstrated that isolationist approaches are really not productive, even with international bad actors like Syria and Iran. We need to recommit ourselves to diplomacy. I support the bipartisan Iraq Study Group’s view that we need to engage our adversaries in aggressive diplomatic efforts to resolves conflicts and differences. Diminishing the United States as an international influence has not been productive in terms of the state of the world.
The Plan also includes numerous proposals to help prevent “future Iraqs” from ever happening again. These proposals include restoring habeas corpus and supporting our troops with adequate veterans programs, two things Noriega slammed his opponent John Cornyn on:
“Yesterday, [John Cornyn] voted against restoring the Constitution’s basic right of habeas corpus. Yesterday, he voted against the Webb-Hagel amendment, legislation that would have provided a safety net for our troops, requiring that they spend as much time at home with their families as they spend deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan. And today? He’s wasting the Senate’s and the people’s time by introducing a resolution about MoveOn.org’s ad!
Here is Noriega again, championing veteran’s healthcare and responsible redeployment, two things at the heart of the Plan:
While I have sacrificed, Cornyn rejected responsible troop deployment limits, twice voted against increased funding for veteran health care, against funding for armored vehicles, and against protecting soldiers’ civilian salaries while they’re serving in Iraq.
The Plan calls for an end to warrantless wiretapping, something Noriega had a particularly strong statement on:
On Christmas morning 2004, outside of Kabul, Afghanistan, my buddies and I drove to our base camp to use the computers. We wanted to be with our kids when they woke up that Christmas. To get there we drove through a near ambush-anytime we drove on the Jalalabad Road, it was risky, and we had an incident on our way.
That Christmas morning, I suspect the government listened to our conversations. They occurred between two countries; Afghanistan and the US. They probably didn't realize the difference in tone in my voice as I spoke to my wife and children that morning as my heart raced still from our encounter on the road. My wife did.
I fought to defend our country and our constitution in Afghanistan. I fought for the right to privacy for every Texan. Mr. Cornyn must now stand up for the privacy of every Texan and American too. We as a nation cannot grant anyone sweeping amnesty if they violated the law.
Americans understand the need for safety and the need for intelligence gathering. What they will not accept is an abuse of power, of crossing the line on American's privacy.
I would join Sen. Dodd in opposition to any retroactive provisions that allow a "get out of jail card" for violating the Constitution. If Mr. Cornyn had ever had the opportunity to have his Christmas conversation listened to by the government, on a day that he feared for his life in a convoy on Jalalabad Road, he would do the same."
Lastly, the Plan calls for a new clean energy economy to replace our dependence on foreign oil. This is something Noriega has called for as well:
Moreover, a national clean energy initiative would provide an immense new number of jobs and economic development that would rival the technology boom of the recent past.
This Plan is good policy, and the more candidates that sign on, the more powerful the mandate. Rick Noriega has already endorsed this plan in so many words. He should be the first Senate candidate to join this initiative.
If you agree, email his campaign. Tell him to formally endorse “The Responsible Plan To End The War In Iraq.”
(originally posted at The Seminal) |
