Joe Biden Renews Call for Decentralization of Iraq

While in the state of Iowa, Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden recently spoke about his strategy for ending conflict in the Middle Eastern nation of Iraq, while criticizing Republican candidates McCain and Giuliani's statements about the troop "surge" ordered by President Bush. He re-emphasized the importance of bringing about decentralization and federal governance in Iraq.

According to a press release issued on Tuesday, Senator Biden acknowledged that the "surge" had improved security in Iraq, but stated that it had achieved no success in bringing about political unity of the Iraqi people. He referred to President Bush's goal of building a "strong central government" in Iraq, calling it a "failed strategy" and saying that Iraqis have no trust in their govt.

Senator Biden went on to express the belief that, without a dictatorship or continued occupation, it is not possible for a central government to govern Iraq. He called the decentralization of power the only "possible" way to achieve a "durable political settlement" in Iraq. Biden pointed out that he had proposed this solution and it received the support of seventy-four U.S. Senators. He called the reduction in violence a great opportunity for the U.S. to move toward federal governance in Iraq, saying that the withdrawal of American troops could begin at the same time.

Biden also criticized President Bush and Republican presidential candidates Rudy Giuliani and John McCain for being "wedded" to the current policy of promoting a powerful central govt. in Iraq, saying that it is "unconscionable" that adherence to this policy will bring about additional loss of American troops' lives and continued costs in tax dollars. He called Giuliani and McCain's defense of the troop surge "misleading" and said that it "totally misses the point."

Senator Biden concluded by saying that the U.S. won't have any credibility to bring about solutions to other problems in the world, and expressed the opinion that resolving the conflict in Iraq would return the "global leadership" of the United States.

According to Wikipedia's entry on Senator Biden, he has been in the Senate longer than any previous Delaware senator, and was first elected in 1973. His plan for Iraq calls for giving the nation's Sunni, Kurdish, and Shiite groups more autonomous control over each of their regions, and keeping a central government in place with fewer responsibilities. It also advocates removing most American troops by 2008.

Sources:
1. Joe Biden For President, http://www.joebiden.com/newscenter/pressreleases?id=0225
2. Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Biden