When asked if all American troops would be home from Iraq by the end of their first term, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and Barak Obama all stated correctly that they couldn’t commit to that.

Unfortunately, that is a technically correct, nevertheless wrong answer.

Here’s the correct answer:

If I were sworn into office today, I would have all combat troops out of Iraq within one year. We would have troops to maintain security at our embassy in Baghdad, we would have some troops as advisers to the Iraqi government as they request, and some troops in the region, but there would be no troops engaged in combat and the occupation of Iraq would be over. As for January, 2009, President Bush has mismanaged this war. We have no idea what he might do to make matters worse, so I cannot commit to where we will be in January 2013 – the end of my first term – when we have 15 more months of the incompetent and dangerous Bush administration before I will have an opportunity to get started.

Biden floor statement on Iraq, Friday September 21st, 2007

Senator Biden spoke on Iraq for an hour Friday morning about Iraq and the Biden-Gelb plan which will be voted on next week. Once again, I am proud to support Senator Joe Biden for President of the United States. Just below this item are several articles describing the Biden-Gelb Plan and the support it is achieving. — Geoff Staples

Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, as my friend from Kansas (Sam Brownback, R-KS) leaves, let me just thank him for his leadership here and his insight. I think he and I would agree that this is forming critical mass. Every once in a while in American politics, on a major issue, there is an idea that transcends both sides of this aisle and transcends from the experts to the average people because there is a commonsense ingredient to it as well as a deeper insightful notion of how that part of the world works.

This is one of those issues.

I just wanted to say I am honored to be joined by Senator BROWNBACK in this effort because he and I both have other agendas in terms of our political careers, but I think ...   more »

Iraq: A Way Forward

President Bush does not have a strategy for victory in Iraq. His strategy is to prevent defeat and to hand the problem off to his successor. As a result, more and more Americans understandably want a rapid withdrawal, even at the risk of trading a dictator for chaos and a civil war that could become a regional war. Both are bad alternatives.

There is a third way that can achieve the two objectives most Americans share: to bring our troops home without leaving chaos behind. The idea is to maintain a unified Iraq by federalizing it and giving Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis control over their daily lives in their own regions.

The central government would be responsible for common interests, like border security and the distribution of oil revenues. The plan would bind the Sunnis - who have no oil -- by guaranteeing them a proportionate share of oil revenues. It would convene an international conference to secure support for the power sharing arrangement and produce a regional nonaggression pact, enforced by an Oversight Group of the U.N. and major powers. It would call on the U.S. military to withdraw most U.S. troops from Iraq by ...   more »

Biden-Gelb Plan Emerges as Leading Option for Moving Forward in Iraq

U.S. Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-DE) and Council on Foreign Relations President Emeritus Leslie H. Gelb first laid out a detailed five-point plan for Iraq on May 1, 2006 in a joint op-ed in the New York Times. Since that time, the Biden-Gelb plan has sparked much intellectual debate - from left, right and center. The plan is a chance to achieve the objective most Americans share: to leave Iraq without leaving chaos behind. After a month of hearings in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee examining different options for Iraq and with the release of the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq last week, the Biden-Gelb plan has emerged as a clear path forward.

The Biden-Gelb Five-Point Plan for Iraq:

1) Maintain a unified Iraq by decentralizing it and giving Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis breathing room in their own regions. The Iraqi constitution already provides for federalism. The central government would be responsible for common interests, like border security and the distribution of oil revenues.

2) Secure support from the Sunnis - who have no oil -- by guaranteeing them a proportionate share (about 20 percent) of oil revenues, ...   more »