August 31, 2008: Out of Iraq

It’s about time.

After wasting a week last month debating a meaningless non-binding resolution condemning President George W. Bush’s horrendous mismanagement of the Iraq War, Democrats in the U.S. House unveiled a plan Thursday that would bring American troops home by the end of next summer.

While some would like to see the withdrawal of U.S. troops begin tomorrow, the plan now on the table is the most realistic roadmap to ending American involvement in Iraq’s bloody civil war.

A precipitous departure from Iraq would ensure chaos – guaranteeing no end to the current hellish situation. Violence would become a permanent way of life and the Saddam Hussein era would in some ways look like a picnic on the Euphrates.

A deadline nearly 18 months in the future gives the U.S. military plenty of time to execute what some Republicans have called “the last best chance” for “victory” and sends an unambiguous message about accountability to the Iraqi government. They must take responsibility for their country now because the military commitment that Bush said “is not open-ended” now has an end date: Sunday, Aug. 31, 2008.

In his 1973 book “The Imperial Presidency,” Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., wrote: “Every president reconstructs the presidency to meet his own psychological needs.” It’s a fair critique, though downright depressing when applied to some presidents, including the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

This president has demonstrated endless problems with reality and has surrounded himself with advisers that parrot his sentiments and bend (or ignore) facts in order to support his delusions. A war that he declared all but over on May 1, 2003, has now cost us more than 3,100 troops and nearly half a trillion dollars that could’ve been put to use rebuilding New Orleans, beefing up a catastrophically strained Veterans Administration, providing health care for working Americans or supporting the president’s No Child Left Behind agenda.

We’ve waited too long for the president to accept reality. We’ve waited too long for him to acknowledge that we’re mired in a civil war between Iranian-backed Shiite death squads and al-Qaeda-inspired Sunni extremists. We’ve waited too long for a real plan. We’ve waited too long for the truth.

It’s time for action. Intra-party factionalism and partisanship must give way to cooperation if we’re to see our way out of a no-win war.

Liberals, moderates and anti-war Republicans should rally around this proposal. It’s a responsible plan drawn up by serious people. It holds the president accountable and it leads us out of Iraq in an orderly manner. This isn’t a silly non-binding resolution. The new plan would carry the force of law and deserves the support of those among the 70 percent of the American public who disapprove of the president’s handling of the war.

Lyndon B. Johnson told America in his 1965 State of the Union address that a president’s “hardest task is not to do what is right, but to know what is right.” Congress is making things easier on this president. They’re telling him what’s right.

It’s about time.

Christopher Truscott can be reached at chris.truscott@gmail.com. He still likes the way “President Kerry” sounds.