Washington – Three years after President Bush declared, beneath a “mission accomplished” banner, that major combat had ended in Iraq, a leading Senate Democrat proposed the creation of separate, autonomous regions for Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds to counter continuing ethnic violence.
The White House quickly denounced the plan proposed Monday. Bush said in an appearance that Iraq faced “more tough days ahead” but that it had reached “a turning point” with a new permanent government.
Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, the senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, presented his plan as an alternative to the options of a rapid withdrawal or a continuing war.
The “third way” Biden proposed would give each of the major ethnic groups in Iraq broad authority to run local affairs. The central Baghdad government would be given limited, but specific, responsibilities for border defense, foreign policy, oil production and revenue.
The White House’s speedy rejection suggested the plan would face steep odds. It reflected a new effort to position Democrats between those calling for an immediate pullout from Iraq and the president’s policy, which polls show is increasingly unpopular and threatens to become a factor in the November congressional elections.
Bush met with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who visited Baghdad simultaneously last week for the first top-level meetings with the newly chosen top government leaders there.
“It’s a new chapter in our partnership,” Bush said during a photo session in the Rose Garden that followed the Oval Office meeting. “This government is more determined than ever to succeed, and we believe we’ve got partners to help the Iraqi people realize their dreams.”
Biden presented his plan in a speech to the World Affairs Council in Philadelphia and, in summary, an essay written for the op-ed page of The New York Times with Leslie H. Gelb, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations.
In his speech, Biden said U.S. aid should be tied to protecting minority and women’s rights and that Bush should press Persian Gulf states reaping windfall oil profits to make good on past promises of aid to Iraq and to offer new ones.
Also, he said Bush should order military commanders to prepare a plan for the withdrawal of nearly all the 138,000 U.S. troops in Iraq by 2008, or sooner if it can be achieved “without precipitating a meltdown.”
