Kennedy: Give Iraq Back To Iraqis

Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy says the American military's continued presence in Iraq is fanning the flames of conflict, and signals the need for a new detailed timeline to bring the troops home.

The day after Kennedy's speech, the British newspaper The Guardian reported on its web site that U.S. and British military officials have privately agreed on an exit strategy from Iraq based on accelerated training of Iraqi police, who would take over, but probably not for years.

The reported plan to pull out the 150,000 coalition troops does not include a deadline for doing that - in part, sources say, to avoid encouraging rebel forces in Iraq.

The agreement was reportedly struck between U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his British counterpart, Geoff Hoon.

Speaking Thursday as the Iraqi people prepare to go to the polls to elect a new government, Kennedy said America must give Iraq back to its people rather than continue an occupation that parallels the failed politics of the Vietnam War. He said at least 12,000 troops should leave Iraq right away.

"The U.S. military presence has become part of the problem, not part of the solution," said Kennedy, in an address at the Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies in Washington. "We need a new plan that sets fair and realistic goals for self-government in Iraq, and works with the Iraqi government on a specific timetable for the honorable homecoming of our forces."

While not the first member of Congress to call for a withdrawal of the troops, Kennedy is the first senator to do so. And his remarks continue what has been a long and blistering assault on the administration's Iraq policies.

Republican National Committee spokesman Brian Jones criticized Kennedy's timing.

"It's remarkable that Sen. Kennedy would deliver such an overtly pessimistic message only days before the Iraqi election," said Jones. "Kennedy's partisan political attack stands in stark contrast to President Bush's vision of spreading freedom around the world."

Kennedy has called the war in Iraq a "fraud made up in Texas," and said the administration misled the people about the threats leading up to the war.

Now, Kennedy said, the United States and the insurgents are both battling for the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people and the U.S. is losing.

"There may well be violence as we disengage militarily from Iraq and Iraq disengages politically from us, but there will be much more violence if we continue our present dangerous and destabilizing course," Kennedy said. "It will not be easy to extricate ourselves from Iraq, but we must begin."

Administration officials have so far declined to discuss a timeline for troop withdrawal, saying the goal is to ensure the Iraqis are capable of maintaining their own security before military forces are scaled back.

Kennedy, who has called Iraq "George Bush's Vietnam," drew parallels between that failed conflict and the current deadly battle against guerrilla insurgents. He said the United States must learn from the mistakes of Vietnam — which he termed a misguided war that carried on too long and was not honestly portrayed by officials to the American people.

Kennedy said the first goal in the current situation should be for the United Nations - not the United States - to convene an international meeting to help the new government take shape and draft a constitution.