Armitage's 5 Year Plan

Former Deputy Secretary of State (and Valerie Plame leaker) Richard Armitage called for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq yesterday. Sort of.

"We notify the Iraqis that we're going to be drawing down a reasonable but careful percentage of our troops over a reasonable interval of months--just for example, 5 percent of troops every three months," Armitage told students at New Jersey's DeSales University.

Under Armitage's plan, US troops won't leave Iraq until 2011.

The Army has its own plan to keep the current number of US forces in the country until 2010. And President Bush told Bob Woodward that he'll stick with the war even if only Laura and terrier Barney support him.

But at least Armitage is talking about leaving. That's more than you can say for most Republicans these days, including Armitage's latest foreign policy advisee, John McCain.

Comments (9)

1. Seems to me that any exit we make is sure to be dangerous and potentially bloody - and I am for a withdrawal even given this liklihood. Thus, I fail to see how Armitage's proposal to draw down (by some arbitrary but set percentage) the number of troops is in any way "careful" as it relates to our soldiers transitioning out and those remaining. Seems to me this gradual drawback would actually increase the risk for our soldiers. I think the only solution is total withdrawal by a set date (and not years away).

   Posted by Hman23 at 10/19/2006 @ 5:19pm

2. I am happy to learn that John McCain opposes withdrawal. I just hope he continues steadfastly to maintain his opposition. That way, by 2008, he will have no chance to win the presidency.

   Posted by ILOVEPHYSICS at 10/19/2006 @ 5:28pm

3. "Former Deputy Secretary of State (and Valerie Plame leaker) Richard Armitage"

   "Valerie Plame leaker"?!?!?!?.....David Corn thought some guy named Karter or Karlos did that?!??!?

   hehe

   Posted by Mask at 10/19/2006 @ 8:01pm

4. Remember when Russ Feingold called for a timetable of withdrawl in November '05 and everyone ridiculed him? Then he was followed by Murtha and he was swiftboated?

   And I remember protesting the war in 2002 and how my fellow marchers tried to reason with people that we didn't have a sound plan for winning the peace in Iraq. That it was only about oil and contracts.

   Yet the fuckwits of delusion carried the day and we were labeled out of the mainstream.

   Intrepid Liberal Journal

   Posted by trebor007 at 10/20/2006 @ 12:08am

5. Oh, so he's talking about maybe enacting a "drawdown." Oh well that's just dandy then. I'm fucking filled with confidence. For a PNAC Reganite guy he sounds just like a do-nothing democrat. Lets all get behind the fucking marvelous Armitage Antiwar Peace Plan everyone! It's even better than the antiwar Murtha Airwar Plan!

   Posted by AlanSmithee at 10/20/2006 @ 08:17am

6. BEAU rouses himself from a 5 year coma -- hence, he does not realize that The Establishment itself is in the process of decisively turning against Bush's abysmal VanityWarFailure -- and he quickly goes into "'round the campfire with a full tank of baked beans" mode:

   Your self-righteous ramblings are certain to get the nod from the cut `n run crowd.

   What are the Moonies going to say when Bushite James Baker's full report perscribes some form of ... "cutting and running"?

   Well, just recall how the brainwashed responded to policy changes in 1984.

   Expect to hear the Moonies rant and rave that this exit plan was, umm, part of the NeoCon design all along and that (tetter tetter) Bush had always wanted to exit Iraq but the (giggle ... chortle (can't keep a straight face here)) but the mean and all-powerful congressional Dem minority + K.Olberman wouldn't let (TWACK TWACK TWACK ((sound of knee percusively slapped)) they (TWACK) wouldn't let poor wittle CharlieBrownGeorgiePoohPoohInHisPantiesBush leave his sandbox quagmire (guufff FFFFFFAWWW).

   Pfffffffft ah. That one was small, but smelly. Posted by BEAUSOLEIL 10/19/2006

   However unwittingly (like 1984's Parsons mumbling in his sleep) here is one anally expulsive NeoConClown who knows from where his "political" "views" emanate, with a whiff of commentary to stress their fecal qualities ...

   Posted by Glenn Lemon at 10/20/2006 @ 08:25am

7. My favorite comment now is from the Georgie-boy himself; he's "discovered" that Iraq may be like (gasp!) Vietnam. Of course he's way off base in many respects, but we shouldn't expect anything like historical understanding from a student of his (low) caliber. But it says something about just how desperate BushCo now is that any of this is being floated at all; Baker's Iraq Study Group, Armitage's "new" timetable, the leaked hints that BushCo might seek regional cooperation to stabilize Iraq, etc. It's redeployment alright, but only of political messaging in an attempt to get rid of what has become a terrible liability for the Republican party, the dismal failure they've orchestrated not only in Iraq but in the entire foreign policy program of the U.S.

   As a strategic plan, of course, it is nothing new, as Ari rightly notes. It is not designed to be, as Armitage's own words make clear:

   "This will show seriousness of purpose, I think. It will give our population some hope and enthusiasm that this is not a never-ending affair. And also it will put the heat on the Iraqis, because ladies and gentlemen, we can't win this militarily. By the way, we can't lose this militarily."

   That's not strategy, it's a domestic political dodge. There is no way that a gradual draw-down like Armitage is describing can even hope to "put the heat on the Iraqis" to do anything that they're not already doing. Insurgents would keep attacking American forces, sectarian strife would increase as the slow pull-out developed, much more extensive ethnic cleansing would take place until there would be in practice three states, and all while wasting many tens or hundreds of billions more in American treasure. These conditions will almost certainly happen anyway, regardless of what we do to prevent them (or more accurately, what we can do to prevent them.) That means that the only reasons Armitage gives here that have any real meaning are the political ones. And those are terrible reasons to waste the lives of American soldiers, the credibility of the nation, and our economic future.

   Posted by Stwriley at 10/20/2006 @ 08:37am

8. when the parents and loved ones of the fallen soldiers figure out that they died for a lie, instead of for their country, then you'll see some hate, and some serious Bush bashing. the day of reckoning is nigh.

   Posted by johannesrolf at 10/20/2006 @ 09:23am

9. who's advocating cutting and running now? the same knuckleheads who lied us into the war.

   Out of Iraq Now, Gore in '08

   Posted by johannesrolf at 10/20/2006 @ 12:37pm