Biden On Iraq

Sens. Joe Biden (D-DE) and George Allen (R-VA) were on Meet The Press this morning talking about a number of issues, most important of which, the War in Iraq. We're going to focus on what Biden said, for he actually spoke candidly.

Biden did a good job of driving home the incompetence of the Bush administration, particularly the civilian defense personnel (yeah, you Rumsfeld). Consider:

[Biden]: It has stunned me, the incompetence and way in which they pursued the war, what they’re doing now. [...]

I think it [war planning] was mishandled. I didn’t ever think they [the Bush Administration]would be as incompetent as they were. If I’d known that, I wouldn’t have voted for it [war authorization]. [...]

I—when I got back from Iraq a little while ago, I went down to see the president, and I sat with the president, and he kept talking about terrorists. And I said, “Mr. President, if every single al-Qaeda personality, every single al-Qaeda operative or anyone like him tomorrow were blown away, you still have a war, Mr. President. This is well beyond terrorists.”

There’s an insurgency, Tim, a gigantic insurgency that has nothing to do with terrorists. It’s a big deal. And there’s no serious—we put these military guys so far behind the eight ball, because we didn’t go in with the 5,000 police trainers that I talked about on your show two and a half years ago and others did, because they said we didn’t need it, because we said we had all the oil we needed when in fact the oil companies told us we needed $30 billion dollars in. These guys are about two years behind the curve. The civilians have done a disservice, in my view, to the military on the ground. We said we needed more troops. Remember on your show, I called for more troops the year we went in? Then John McCain called for more troops. What were we told? “No, the folks on the ground don’t want the troops.” Now what’s coming out, including Bremer? “Yeah, we needed more troops, we wanted more troops.” This has been a debacle. This has been a debacle. The president, literally, this is a test of his leadership. He’s got to unite the international community to bring every pressure possible on these guys or it’s not going to get done.

As I've stated before, the incompetence card is a good one for the Dems in '06. In lieu of having alternative ideas, they might as well kick the president while he's down. Highlighting the incompetence, however, is more than a shameless attack - it drives home a point that many Americans, I suspect, already believe: The Bush Administration can't get the job done. Its not that they're just pursuing the wrong policies; rather, there's a general lack of ability and leadership that is damaging this country. If the Democrats keep driving this home, the public will respond.

Besides criticizing the Bush Administration, Biden also spoke the truth about Iraq. Here's what I mean:

[Biden]: And I think, by the way, General Pace [Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, who was on MTP last week] is very, very wrong in his assessment. I think we’re in, we’re at a point where in the next six to eight weeks, we don’t get something moving in terms of a government—and that’s just the first step, by the way. The idea that once a government is formed here that somehow things are going to begin to roll is, is really another misrepresentation.

MR. RUSSERT: But finish that statement. If they don’t get another government in the next six to eight weeks, what happens?

SEN. BIDEN: I think what happens is you’re—we have to decide how we’re going to deal with, it’s going to be a different circumstance. It’ll be closer to a civil war. We’re going to have to have a different function for our troops. You’re going to have to have a plan B. You’re going to have figure out how to contain rather than how to, how to build. And that’s a very much tougher circumstance to be in. [...]

But, look, we, we have vital interests that are there. We—it’s bad enough it’s a civil war. It’ll be a lot worse if it’s a regional war. [...]

SEN. BIDEN: We can’t want peace in Iraq more than the Iraqis want it. We can’t want it more than they want it, and if they don’t step up to the ball we’re going to be gone. The—no foreign policy can be sustained without the informed consent of the American people.

MR. RUSSERT: And what do you leave behind?

SEN. BIDEN: You leave behind chaos. You traded dictator for chaos, open civil war, and the concern of a regional war. Worse off than we were when we had him sitting there. It’s good he’s gone, but what are you trading him for? What are we going to trade him for?

MR. RUSSERT: Is this a distinct possibility?

SEN. BIDEN: Absolutely, it’s a distinct possibility. And you even have our generals on the ground saying it’s a distinct possibility. [...]

MR. RUSSERT: Senator Biden, if they don’t get a government together, and we do get out, and we leave chaos behind, is that not a foreign policy disaster for the U.S.?

SEN. BIDEN: It is an absolute foreign policy disaster. What I said was that we’re going to have to have a different deployment of the troops. We’re going to have to figure out a containment policy, Tim. You may find a debate begins to ensue: Do we help the Badr Brigade and the Peshmerga deal with the Sunnis? Do we decide to cordon off the north? Do we decide—it’ll be a different policy. We’re not going to just be able to walk away. It will be a disaster.

That's a lot of text, I know. But its all important and hasn't really been talked about before today. Biden is right to point out the potential for an Iraqi Civil War sparking a broader regional conflict with dire consequences. This is, more than any other so called 'tipping point' in Iraq thus far, a most pivotal moment for Iraq's future. If a viable, legitimate government (or 'unity government') does not form in the coming weeks, disaster is likely.

Biden is also right to note the hard realities of removing Saddam Hussein, as despicable as he was. Morally nobody can dispute the fact that Iraq is better off with Saddam out of power. However, the reality is his brutal, iron fist kept a lid on the sectarian tensions within Iraq. As Biden put it, we've "traded a dictator for chaos" - and by the way, our troops are in the middle of that chaos.