BIDEN: Iraqi Progress on Oil is Important Step, But More Needs to be Done
February 27, 2007
Washington, DC - U.S. Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE) issued the following statement today on the Iraqi cabinet approving a draft law setting guidelines for nationwide distribution of oil revenues in Iraq:
"Iraqi progress on an oil law is good news and an important step forward. Fair-sharing of Iraq's oil revenue is key to a sustainable political solution, but an oil law by itself will not end the sectarian warfare in Iraq. It must be accompanied by all-out diplomacy to broker a political settlement that would decentralize Iraq and give Kurds, Shi'ites and Sunnis control over their daily lives; enlist the support of Iraq's neighbors and the world's major powers to promote the settlement with the Iraqis; and withdraw U.S. combat forces by 2008, as called for in the Biden-Gelb plan."
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Sen. Biden has been a leading advocate for changing course in Iraq. In a speech before the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC on Thursday, February 15, 2007 and in an op-ed in today's Boston Globe, Sen. Biden advocated revisiting the original 2002 Iraq War resolution which gave President Bush the authority in 2002 to destroy Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and, if necessary, to depose Saddam Hussein. Because the WMD were not there and Saddam Hussein is no longer there, Sen. Biden believes that the 2002 authorization is no longer relevant to the situation in Iraq. He is currently working on legislation with Senator Carl Levin to repeal that authorization and replace it with a much narrower mission statement for our troops in Iraq.
In addition, Sen. Biden and Council on Foreign Relations President Emeritus Leslie H. Gelb laid out a detailed five-point plan for Iraq on May 1, 2006. 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, allowing former Baathists to go back to work and re-integrating those with no blood on their hands. 3) Increase economic aid, asking oil-rich Arab Gulf states to fund it, tie assistance to the protection of minority rights and create a jobs program to deny the militia new recruits. 4) Convene a regional conference to enlist the support of Iraq's neighbors and create a Contact Group of the major powers to enforce their commitments. 5) Ask our military for a plan to responsibly withdraw most U.S. forces from Iraq by 2008 - enough time for the political settlement to take hold - while refocusing the mission of a small residual force on counter-terrorism and training Iraqis.
