More Than Words: Moving Forward On Iraq With Our Congressional Candidates

Over the weekend in DC I had the opportunity to see a presentation by Darcy Burner, Democratic Candidate for Congress in Washington's 7th, about how our Congressional candidates can actually spark progress on our presence in Iraq. For background, Brunner was one of the "netroots" candidates in '06, and her brother was part of the initial Iraq invasion force that marched across the border in '03. One of Burner's chief issues since she started campaigning way back in '05 has been a responsible withdraw from Iraq.

Yesterday, Burner, along with other Congressional candidates from around the country rolled out what they're dubbing a "Responsible Plan for Iraq" at the Take Back America Conference in DC. The plan is more than just rhetoric and gimmicks - it includes hard policy proposals and specifics on what these folks think we need to do to end the Iraq debacle.

The Responsible Plan is available in its entirety as a .pdf here. It's bold. It calls for implementing several of the Iraq Study Group Proposals, and passing current pieces of legislation on the floor to come up with a comprehensive way forward on Iraq. This includes banning military contractors, getting rid of presidential signing statements, stating unequivocally the USA won't establish permanent bases in Iraq, establishing concrete criminal penalties for war profiteering, banning the transportation of those captured to countries that approve of torture, establishing a framework for US energy independence, and many other specific actions all tailored to ensuring Iraq doesn't continue or happen again.

Speaking on Saturday, Burner acknowledged that this path is completely against what everyone in politics has recommended for the candidates. Policy is bad for candidates - and generally if you're running for office you're not supposed to talk about specifics. However, Burner, and the other folkss that have signed onto this effort believe that so little progress on Iraq has been made that it's time to throw conventional wisdom out the window and everyone that can should push to change the dialogue.

Frankly, I like what I see. I'm still thinking about whether this is something that would be positive for Ohio congressional candidates to sign on to, but I enthusiastically approve of the effort. I'd be curious to hear thoughts on this effort from the Ohio community, our candidate's staffs, and the candidates themselves.