Kennedy: Withdraw troops after election

WASHINGTON – Immediately after Sunday’s election in Iraq, President Bush should take steps to negotiate a timetable to begin bringing the troops home, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy said Thursday as he described his own plans for a stable Iraqi government.

Saying the American military’s continued presence in Iraq is fanning the flames of conflict, Kennedy said at least 12,000 U.S. troops should leave at once, and a complete withdrawal should be finished as early as possible in 2006.

The Massachusetts Democrat said America must give Iraq back to its people rather than continue an occupation that parallels the failed policies of the Vietnam war.

“The U.S. military presence has become part of the problem, not part of the solution,” Kennedy said in a speech to Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. “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 withdrawing the troops, Kennedy is the first senator to do so. And his remarks continued his long and blistering assault on the Bush administration’s Iraq policies.

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

“It’s remarkable that Senator 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.”

But Democrats applauded his five-point plan, which included a greater role for the United Nations, increased diplomacy in the Arab region and completing the training of an Iraqi security force before the end of the year.

Rep. Marty Meehan, D-Mass., who made a similar call for troop withdrawal earlier in the week, said he and Kennedy will be able to press Congress for a debate on this in the Armed Services committees.

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.