Biden's gutsy proposal for Iraq
PLYMOUTH, N.H.
JOE BIDEN is baffled - and one can hardly blame him.
In late September, Biden won Senate approval for a resolution saying the United States should work with the United Nations, the international community, and Iraq's leaders to bring about a political solution in Iraq based upon federalism, with semi-autonomous regions for the country's various religious and ethnic groups.
In an intensely polarized time, Biden's resolution passed with an astonishing 75 votes, winning the support of 26 Republicans, including such influential figures as Richard Lugar of Indiana and John Warner of Virginia.
And yet, news of that important sense-of-the-Senate measure fell with a faint thud, mostly relegated to the inside pages, if covered at all, by leading newspapers.
"I just couldn't figure it," Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, says in an interview while campaigning here. "I am willing to risk my career on the fact that this is going to be looked back on as a seminal moment in this war, in this debate."
The Senate vote, he notes, was "an express rejection of the central strategic premise of the Bush administration": The goal of a strong central government in Baghdad that will somehow bring about reconciliation among the warring factions. Further, the Republicans who voted for the resolution knew it was a rebuke to the White House, he says.
For its part, the administration certainly seemed to realize the symbolic weight such a resolution could carry. The US embassy in Iraq issued a patently disingenuous warning that "attempts to partition or divide Iraq by intimidation, force, or others means" would lead to "extraordinary suffering and bloodshed."
But Biden's isn't a partition plan. Further, the Iraq constitution permits just such a federalized system. Nor is the idea to impose such an arrangement, but rather to work with the UN, Iraq, and its neighbors to promote decentralization.
Ryan Crocker, the US ambassador to Iraq, knows better, avers Biden, who says that on a recent trip to Iraq, he spent hours with Crocker. That's why Biden suspects that the embassy's statement may have been ordered up by the White House to diminish the Senate vote.
"I know that there are a number of serious players in the administration who agree with me, at State and Defense," the senator says. "What I also know is there is very strong pushback from [Vice President] Cheney and from the White House . . . What I hoped this would do was embolden those within the administration who do not agree with the policy of Cheney and company to stand up and push back, now that they know they have a lot of support in the Senate."
Despite initial criticism, apparently based on the partition misunderstanding, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has since spoken more positively of Biden's plan, as has Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.
No, it won't be easy, Biden tells his Plymouth State University audience, but his approach "gives us the only possibility of withdrawing our troops without leaving chaos behind."
So this should be a big moment for Biden. In a presidential race where some of his Democratic rivals have adopted Iraq positions that appear tailored to curry favor with the activists, while others have struck stands that seem designed to minimize political exposure, Biden has offered a genuinely bold and gutsy proposal.
As a presidential candidate, however, the Delaware Democrat remains stuck in the second tier and far behind in fund-raising. And yet there are some signs of progress. In Iowa, he has the backing of 10 state legislators, third behind Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama (16 and 11 at last count).
Further, Dave Nagle, a former Iowa congressman and erstwhile state party chairman, says Biden is emerging as the second choice among many Democrats, a good place to be in the caucus process. "He is gaining traction," says the neutral Nagle.
As a candidate, Biden is now adding domestic policy pieces to his campaign. The latest: retirement security and education plans.
Still, his real selling point remains international affairs.
Now, foreign-policy complexities may not be foremost in the minds of the Democratic faithful.
His rivals, Biden says, like to joke that they'd make him their secretary of state. Then he asks his listeners a pointed question: "Are you ready to vote for anybody for president who's not capable of being secretary of state?"
As Democrats evaluate their options for '08, that's a question worth pondering.
Scot Lehigh's e-mail address is lehigh@globe.com. 