Tuesday, November 22, 2005

''Biden seeks to articulate Iraq strategy; Senate Democrats resist pullout''

"While Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) delivered a landmark speech in terms of outlining his party's strategy for Iraq, Democratic senators have yet to embrace the pullout goal of Rep. Jack Murtha (D-PA), who made waves in the House last week.

Aides to several Democratic senators tell RAW STORY they had not seen specific changes among Democrats' positions since Murtha's emotional call for withdrawal.

"We're waiting to see what the next steps are, but whether senators are embracing Murtha or Feingold’s (D-WI) position, I don’t think that’s out there yet," one Democratic leadership aide said.

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) has called for the U.S. to begin withdrawing troops at the end of 2006.

Biden's speech, delivered to the Council of Foreign Relations, sketched out a strategy that included (1) forging better alliances between Iraqi factions (the senator said he thought the current constitution had the power to divide the country) (2) strengthen the Iraqi government and its reconstruction efforts and (3) accelerate the transfer of the country's security to Iraqis.

Each of Biden's goals have already been embraced and trumpeted by the Bush Administration. Whether his specific vision -- which is illustrated in great detail -- provides a clearer articulation of the Democrats' Iraq position remains to be seen."-from RAW STORY, where you can also see the text of Biden's speech.

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