You Want a Sound Bite... I'll Give You One

Democrats have given up when it comes to supporting a plan for strategic redeployment from Iraq. If I had to guess why, I think it's because they don't think they can sell a complicated plan like strategic redeployment without it sounding like cut-and-run or without people tuning out.

Well I've got a solution. Strategic Redeployment is good, so let's package it in an easy-to-sell and quick-to-say manner.

Every Democratic politician who supports Strategic Redeployment should outline it like this:

"Listen, we need to strategically redeploy from Iraq. Here's the Democratic plan. First, redeploy almost all of our 130,000 troops out of Iraq, while maintaining a small force of Special Forces, intelligence, and logistics to help the Iraqis fight terrorism, and redeploy our forces to the perimeter in the Gulf so that if our interests are threatened, we can come back in to secure them. Second, redeploy all of our National Guard and Reserves back home to fight the war on terror, put them on the borders, in our ports, and have them protect our critical infrastructure and prepare for a terrorist attack. Third, redeploy most of our combat forces and Special Forces to Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Indonesia, and other terrorist havens and sanctuaries to fight the war on terror. Fourth, train and equip the Iraqi security forces out of country in the Gulf to keep our guys safe and keep Iraqi forces safe during the training. And fifth, stay heavily involved in Iraq politically, diplomatically, and economically by pouring funds into aid organizations and convening an Iraqi Summit for Peace with all the major parties in Iraq, the major powers in the region, and the major global players so that the whole world has a stake and a say in the success and outcome of Iraq. Look, we've got to do this because our forces are overextended, we need our National Guard and Reserves back at home to protect us in the war on terror, we're neglecting critical areas in the war on terror by diverting resources to Iraq, and our forces are counterproductive in Iraq; we're fueling the insurgency and the sectarian violence, we're radicalizing the Muslim world and recruiting a whole new generation of terrorists, and we're destroying our image and reputation in the world at a critical time when we need to unite the world to fight al-Qaeda. We're losing troops every day to death or serious injury, our budget is being broken, and there is little tangible success. Oil production, electricity, and running water are still below pre-war levels, we haven't defined our mission, and the President has no plan to win the war. The President is losing the war in Iraq and the war on terror. If we pursue the Democratic plan for Strategic Redeployment, we will win both wars."

I know this is not a sound bite, but it's short enough that we can let people know exactly what we think without a long speech. Strategic Redeployment is the best solution to Iraq, and all Democrats should get behind it before we spill more blood of young people our age in Iraq.