Yesterday, I wrote about my hopes of a third way to extricate ourselves from Iraq. Rather than a “surge� or withdrawal by a certain date, we, instead, would focus on negotiations between the Shias and the Sunnis.
Today, I see this in Time:
Democrats on Capitol Hill hang on his every word, and Jim Webb doesn’t disappoint. His son was extended in Iraq for the surge, and his resolve to end a war that he opposed from the start is undisputed. He came from 33 points behind to win election in Virginia and tip control of the Senate to the Democrats—largely on the strength of his antiwar, tough-guy military credentials. Democrats owe him, and they trust him to help them find an honorable path out of Iraq.
But Webb doesn’t favor a timeline for withdrawal, as the Nancy Pelosi bill passed by the House on Friday proposes, or capping the number of troops in Iraq, as Hillary Clinton suggests. Webb wants a diplomatic solution, and he’s working with Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel, a fellow Vietnam veteran and a friend for 30 years, to come up with a bipartisan bill that would incorporate some of what he calls “the more workable points” from the House bill without unnecessarily tying the hands of the military. He wouldn’t say much about it—other than it’s a work in progress as the Democrats try to ratchet up pressure on President Bush to wind down the war.
Maybe there is hope.
“‘Moderate’ is not a 4-letter word.”