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View Full Version : Biden's 5 Point Iraq Plan up for Vote in the Senate



101Scout
09-22-2007, 04:58 PM
This Biden Iraq Plan is due for vote in the Senate Sept 25, 2007. This one appears to have some meat to it, as several Repukes seems to be more behind this one. Sen Reid has already expressed that this may be a good step towards uniting the damn Dems and Repukes together over Iraq. I suppose to some degree this plan may appear to work a little, but as long as any US presence of any kind is in Iraq, there will be no 100% cooperation in Iraq. There will also be problems with sharing oil revenues in Iraq. Corruption is the driver behind all deals such as this.

Lets see how the Senate votes on Tuesday.




A Five Point Plan for Iraq

1. Establish One Iraq, with Three Regions

* Federalize Iraq in accordance with its constitution by establishing three largely autonomous regions - Shiite, Sunni and Kurd -- with a strong but limited central government in Baghdad
* Put the central government in charge of truly common interests: border defense, foreign policy, oil production and revenues
* Form regional governments -- Kurd, Sunni and Shiite -- responsible for administering their own regions

2. Share Oil Revenues

* Gain agreement for the federal solution from the Sunni Arabs by guaranteeing them 20 percent of all present and future oil revenues -- an amount roughly proportional to their size -- which would make their region economically viable
* Empower the central government to set national oil policy and distribute the revenues, which would attract needed foreign investment and reinforce each community's interest in keeping Iraq intact and protecting the oil infrastructure


3. Convene International Conference, Enforce Regional Non-Aggression Pact

* Convene with the U.N. a regional security conference where Iraq's neighbors, including Iran, pledge to support Iraq's power sharing agreement and respect Iraq's borders
* Engage Iraq's neighbors directly to overcome their suspicions and focus their efforts on stabilizing Iraq, not undermining it
* Create a standing Contact Group, to include the major powers, that would engage Iraq's neighbors and enforce their commitments


4. Responsibly Drawdown US Troops

* Direct U.S. military commanders to develop a plan to withdraw and re-deploy almost all U.S. forces from Iraq by the summer of 2008
* Maintain in or near Iraq a small residual force -- perhaps 20,000 troops -- to strike any concentration of terrorists, help keep Iraq's neighbors honest and train its security forces

Crazy Guggenheim
09-22-2007, 05:40 PM
Biden has a good idea.

TheBoss(DCA)
09-23-2007, 05:10 PM
I have been really warming up to Biden lately. however I got a funny sinking feeling that the sharing of oil revenues idea will torpedo this plan.

cezebrgr
09-23-2007, 08:04 PM
...the sharing of oil revenues...

I think that the Iraqi will deal with the oil law in good time. Being that the country was around at the dawn of civilization their communication skills have evolved to the point that it seems to us that they are not getting anything done. Quite the opposite is happening. They are covering the subject in great detail. The case in point is their establishing charter is 16 times longer than the U.S. constitution.

Biden seems like an interesting candidate with foreign relations experience. Where is he positioned on education?

Crazy Guggenheim
09-23-2007, 08:09 PM
I think that the Iraqi will deal with the oil law in good time. Being that the country was around at the dawn of civilization their communication skills have evolved to the point that it seems to us that they are not getting anything done. Quite the opposite is happening. They are covering the subject in great detail. The case in point is their establishing charter is 16 times longer than the U.S. constitution.

Biden seems like an interesting candidate with foreign relations experience. Where is he positioned on education?

Look about a quarter of the way down. [Only registered and activated users can see links] ([Only registered and activated users can see links])




There needs to be performance-based pay for teachers. (Aug 2007)
Teach sex ed in schools; including prevention methods. (Aug 2007)
Sent kids to private school after death of their mother. (Jul 2007)
Overcome racial achievement gap with early education. (Jun 2007)
Pay teachers more to get better educational results. (Apr 2007)
FactCheck: Japan pays teachers more, but not India & China. (Apr 2007)
NCLB needs more resources, but also is fundamentally flawed. (Feb 2007)
Princeton was last Ivy holdout to admit women & minorities. (Jan 2006) Voting Record

([Only registered and activated users can see links] 9%3B..%2F2008%2FJoe_Biden_Education.htm%23Voting_Record%26%2339%3B%29%3B)Voting for No Child Left Behind was a mistake. (Jul 2007)
Voted YES on $52M for "21st century community learning centers". (Oct 2005)
Voted YES on $5B for grants to local educational agencies. (Oct 2005)
Voted YES on shifting $11B from corporate tax loopholes to education. (Mar 2005)
Voted YES on funding smaller classes instead of private tutors. (May 2001)
Voted YES on funding student testing instead of private tutors. (May 2001)
Voted YES on spending $448B of tax cut on education & debt reduction. (Apr 2001)
Voted YES on Educational Savings Accounts. (Mar 2000)
Voted YES on education savings accounts. (Jun 1998)
Voted NO on school vouchers in DC. (Sep 1997)
Voted YES on $75M for abstinence education. (Jul 1996)
Voted NO on requiring schools to allow voluntary prayer. (Jul 1994)
Voted YES on national education standards. (Feb 1994)
Rated 91% by the NEA, indicating pro-public education votes. (Dec 2003)

101Scout
09-25-2007, 03:44 PM
There's not been anything that I can find on the Biden Plan presented in the Senate today. I have no idea what's going down so far other than the Senate being in recess most of the day. What else is new right?

101Scout
09-25-2007, 03:55 PM
As of this morning, the article states that the vote was still on today in the Senate. We'll see.



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Vote set for today on Biden's Iraq federalism measure

By NICOLE GAUDIANO, Gannett News Service
September 25, 2007 at 11:31 am


WASHINGTON - A proposal for Iraq that Sen. Joe Biden has been advocating for more than a year is expected to come to a vote today in the Senate.

The bipartisan amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill calls for promoting a federal system of government in Iraq, with strong regional authority and a limited central government, based on provisions in Iraq’s constitution.

It also states that the U.S. government should bring in the international community to support a settlement based on federalism and to convene a conference with Iraqis to help them reach that settlement.

Biden, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, spent more than an hour on the Senate floor Friday pitching the plan he developed with Leslie Gelb, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations. He presented the plan as a way to avoid a regional war.

The amendment is signed by 11 co-sponsors, including Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., who this morning called the plan “a political surge that recognizes the realities on the ground.”

Republican Sens. Jon Kyl of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, however, said they would not support a resolution that could be seen as the United States “dictating” it’s view of what the Iraqi government should be.

101Scout
09-26-2007, 12:50 PM
The amendment just past 75-53!

Biden Three State Solution Amendment
September 21st, 2007

Senator Biden (D-DE) has called up an Amendment #2997. This amendment has several Republican co-sponsors including, but not limited to, Senator’s Brownback (R-KS) and Hutchison (R-TX). The amendment calls for a three state solution to the political problems in Iraq. It calls for political settlement in the region based on the principles of federalism and for international support and cooperation with that settlement. It essentially would divide the country into three separate pieces: Kurdish North, Sunni South, Shia West. The central city in this scenario is Baghdad. The amendment also mandates that the parties get together and create an oil revenue distribution plan that is fairly balanced among each party. There is no mention of troop withdrawals or mission changes in this amendment.