Joe Biden has introduced an amendment to the Defense
Authorization Act that expresses non-binding support for "an Iraqi
political settlement based on federalism." They're debating it on
the Senate floor now, and may or may not get around to voting on it
this evening. (He has 11
cosponsors, including Sam Brownback.)
Biden makes the case for his amendment in this
op-ed. I'm quite skeptical of Biden's insistence that the
devolution of political power can be safely pulled off while
"drawing down U.S. forces, not just to pre-surge levels but well
below them." Joseph and O'Hanlon
suggest that we "err on the side of too many troops, not too
few," and don't envision a major drawdown until at least a year
after we begin implementing a soft partition. Still, Biden's
amendment doesn't get into those specifics, so I'd probably vote
for it if I were a Senator (ha-ha).
topics:
Joe Biden, Iraq, NATO
