Saturday, August 23, 2008

Sen. Joe Biden: Foreign Policy Guru or Idiot?


Barack Hussein Obama has chosen Joe Biden. President Bush's solution to winning the Iraq War was to follow General Petraeus' "Surge" strategy and that has led to the U.S. and coalition and Iraqi forces defeat of al Qaeda in Iraq and bringing the country close to peace. Obama, on the other hand, has always called for surrender in Iraq - he would have pulled the troops out just as they were on the verge of victory and that action would have cost millions of Iraqis their lives.

Now, where did Joe Biden fall into this Iraq debate? The MSM is heralding Joe Biden as a foreign policy guru, an "expert." What was Biden's great solution to the Iraq conflict?

Well, here is what Joe Biden offered up (in May of 2006) from his position as guru of foreign policy:


Sen. Biden: Iraq should be divided into 3 regions

Iraq should be divided into three largely autonomous regions -- Kurd, Sunni Arab and Shiite Arab -- with a weaker central government in Baghdad, Sen. Joseph Biden said on Monday.

He said the division of Iraq would follow the example of Bosnia a decade ago when that war-torn country was partitioned into ethnic federations under the U.S.-brokered Dayton Accords.

As part of the plan, the United States should withdraw most of its troops from Iraq by 2008, except for a small force to combat terrorism, Biden said.Under Biden's proposal, the Kurdish, Sunni and Shiite regions would each be responsible for their own domestic laws, administration and internal security. The central government would control border defense, foreign affairs and oil revenues.
This is the man of solutions that Barack Obama has chosen? So, as an American voter, I have a Democratic ticket that offers a Presidential candidate that would have retreated and his Vice Presidential candidate that would have carved the country up into threes - further creating a division in a land always marked by divisive strife.

I almost don't know where to begin on the foreign policy sham from Biden but let me list a few observations:

1. Biden stated that the weak central government of Iraq would be responsibile for "border defense." Okay, his plan of dividing the country up was due to the Shia, Sunni and Kurd factions not getting along so WHO is going to be in the military forces that will guard the border with Turkey, Syria or Iran? Would those be a mixed group of soldiers, who Biden has concluded can't get along? How effective a defensive force would that be? Who would command the national defense forces? A Sunni? A Shia? A Kurd?

2. al Qaeda. With Iraq divided into three separate entities under a Biden plan, al Qaeda could have targeted the Shia "country." Let's say that al Qaeda, in an attempt to draw the Sunni section of Iraq into a battle, bombed a Sunni mosque in the Sunni territory using Shia operatives in the Shia territory...and that wouldn't cause a military conflict between the two areas?

3. Oil Fields. There were numerous oil fields in the northern section of Iraq which were claimed both by Sunnis and Kurds. Would Biden have drawn a line right through the middle of those? Would Biden have had half the oil pipeline under Kurd control and half under Sunni control?

4. Islamic observation. Would Joe Biden have worked up a magic "visa" for Shias to travel through Sunni country during islamic holiday observations? Would a Shia living in the nothern area of the Kurd section, be allowed to leave for a trek to Najaf?

5. Declaration of war. If the weak central government was equally split between the three newly created territories, who would have the deciding vote on a potential declaration of war on say, Iran? If the Shia territory objected to a war on Iran supported by the Sunnis and Kurds, would the Shia territory then declare war on the Sunnis and Kurds?

Okay, I'll stop. The reason for this exercise was to point out that THINKING and ANALYSIS is not Joe Biden's strongpoint. He is a loose cannon. His lips move before his mind engages. He sits at the head of the prestigious Senate Foreign Relations Committee not because he is a guru but because he's been there a long time and he is talking the talk.

I won't even get into Biden's call for U.S. military intervention in Darfur last year where not a single expert or colleague joined him in that call.

Biden a foreign policy guru? Not bloody likely.


Sen. Biden: Iraq should be divided into 3 regions

05/01/06 -- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iraq should be divided into three largely autonomous regions -- Kurd, Sunni Arab and Shiite Arab -- with a weaker central government in Baghdad, Sen. Joseph Biden said on Monday.In an op-ed article in The New York Times, Biden, the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee's top Democrat, said the Bush administration's effort to establish a strong central government in Baghdad had been a failure, doomed by ethnic rivalry that had spawned widespread sectarian violence."It is increasingly clear that President Bush does not have a strategy for victory in Iraq. Rather, he hopes to prevent defeat and pass the problem along to his successor," said Biden and co-author Leslie Gelb, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations.Iraq's Sunnis, the driving force behind the insurgency, would welcome the partition plan rather than be dominated by a Shiite-controlled central government, Biden said.He said the division of Iraq would follow the example of Bosnia a decade ago when that war-torn country was partitioned into ethnic federations under the U.S.-brokered Dayton Accords.Biden billed his plan as a "third option" beyond the "false choice" of continuing the Bush administration policy of nurturing a unity government in Iraq or withdrawing U.S. troops immediately.As part of the plan, the United States should withdraw most of its troops from Iraq by 2008, except for a small force to combat terrorism, Biden said.Under Biden's proposal, the Kurdish, Sunni and Shiite regions would each be responsible for their own domestic laws, administration and internal security. The central government would control border defense, foreign affairs and oil revenues.

No comments: