Feingold sets target date for withdrawal from Iraq

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You'll have to forgive the truncated thread title, as "Feingold proposing target 'end date' for withdrawal" doesn't fit.

Stepping up his criticism of U.S. policy in Iraq, Sen. Russ Feingold has begun calling for an end-of-2006 deadline for the completed pullout of American troops. Feingold said he was proposing a target ?end date? for withdrawal because ?I think what we?re doing now is feeding the insurgency.?

Feingold?s position goes beyond what virtually any other senator has explicitly proposed for the withdrawal of U.S. troops. The Democrat said he was also trying to break what he called a ?taboo? in the Senate on the discussion of specific dates for bringing troops home. He said lawmakers, especially Democrats, need to be less ?timid? on the subject.

Feingold offered a resolution in June calling on President Bush to provide a timetable for withdrawal, but the measure was silent about deadlines. A proposed House resolution calls for a start date of October 2006 for withdrawal, but it has not gained wide backing.

?The situation is becoming more and more untenable because of a lack of a clear plan to finish the task and leave,? said Feingold in a telephone interview while he traveled between listening sessions in northern Wisconsin.

Feingold said he planned to put out a public proposal Thursday on the issue.

The Bush administration and even some critics of the war have argued that setting target dates for the withdrawal of troops would be artificial and embolden insurgents in Iraq.

Feingold said he rejected that argument because he was convinced that the indefinite presence of troops and the lack of a withdrawal plan fueled the insurgency.

Feingold said a deadline for full withdrawal ? he proposed Dec. 31, 2006 ? should be flexible and subject to changing conditions. But he contended that setting even a target date would ?help us to undermine the recruiting efforts and unity of the insurgents, encourage Iraq ownership of the transition process ? and reassure the American people our Iraq policy is not directionless.?

The lawmaker, who voted against the resolution authorizing the Iraq war, said he has been disappointed more senators haven?t spoken out about timetables for withdrawal.

Read the rest at Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Feingold Senate Web Site

While I would have liked it earlier, someone has to break the ice and get things moving, so I am glad he's taken the initiative.