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US Senate approved a plan to partition
Iraq
27.9.2007
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September 27, 2007
Washington, -- The Senate overwhelming
approved a plan by Biden that essentially calls for
breaking Iraq into three sections: Kurd, Sunni, and
Shia. While the amendment is nonbinding, it's the
first measure to pass, (vote was 75-23,) that goes
against the administration's war strategy.
Senators proposing a plan to separate Iraq into
three semi-autonomous regions received surprisingly
overwhelming bipartisan support Wednesday in a vote
seeming to signify deep bipartisan concerns about
the administration's direction in Iraq. The White
House, however, belittled the move as essentially
comporting with its own view, a response Republicans
on Capitol Hill greeted with derision.
The nonbinding, so-called Sense of the Senate
resolution calls upon the Bush administration to
pursue federalist, semi-autonomous regions in Iraq
-- presumably Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish entities --
with a modest federal government located in Baghdad. |
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This would be instead of the strong central
government the White House currently backs. Indeed,
President Bush has decried any partitioning of Iraq,
saying such a move would increase sectarian
violence.
The bill, which passed by a vote of 75 to 23, was
pushed by two second-tier presidential candidates
from extreme opposite sides of the political
spectrum: Sens. Joe Biden, D-Del., the chairman of
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Sam
Brownback, R-Kan.
Their White House prospects notwithstanding, Biden
and Brownback succeeded where the Democratic
leadership failed -- repeatedly -- and cobbled
together a bipartisan coalition for an amendment
that runs counter to the president's Iraq policy.
The Biden-Brownback amendment also calls for the
launch of a major international diplomatic push in
the Middle East by the White House.
In a press conference after the vote, Biden said his
plan shows how to "end this war in a way that we are
able to ultimately ? bring our troops home and leave
a stable Iraq behind."
The bipartisan measure also calls on the five
permanent members of the United Nations and members
of the international community to convene a
conference to help the Iraqis set up the federal
regions. "We all agree... it's time to make Iraq the
world's problem, not just ours."
Republican Senator John Warner, instrumental and
influential in almost all things related to Iraq,
called the vote an "extraordinary moment because it
marks the high-water mark of all the many debates
and resolutions we've had in terms of
bipartisanship."
abcnews go.com
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