Defense bill with Biden plan passes Congress
The News Journal, Nicole Gaudiano
WASHINGTON - A bill including Sen. Joe Biden’s plan for a political solution in Iraq will now go before President Bush for his signature after passing both houses of Congress.
Biden’s nonbinding bipartisan resolution, stating the United States should support a federalist form of government in Iraq that’s based on the Iraqi constitution, was an amendment to the 2008 Defense Authorization Act, which passed the Senate Friday.
By promoting federalism, the resolution supports the creation of strong regions under a limited central government. It also calls for more international involvement in helping Iraqis reach an agreement on a comprehensive political settlement.
“It’s time for this president to listen,” Biden said in a statement. “We now have both sides of the aisle, both sides of the U.S. Capitol, saying to the president: abandon this flawed strategy of yours and change course.”
White House spokesman Alex Conant has said previously that the administration was “fine” with the amendment because it was a nonbinding resolution that said “let the Iraqis decide.”
The 75-23 approval of Biden’s amendment in September led to misunderstandings among some Iraqi leaders, who thought the Senate was promoting the division of Iraq and intruding on Iraqi affairs.
Biden later clarified in a conference call with reporters that the measure calls for “keeping Iraq together” and for “helping the Iraqis implement their own constitution.”
The final version of the resolution strengthens language emphasizing that the decision is up to the Iraqi people. It now states that the United States will support a federalist system of government based on the Iraqi constitution “if the Iraqi people support” it.
Language was also added stating that nothing in the Act should “imply that the United States wishes to impose a political settlement in Iraq based on federalism if such a political settlement is contrary to the wishes of the Iraqi people.”
Biden spokeswoman Elizabeth Alexander said the changes are nothing new and that the Biden plan has always emphasized U.S. support of the Iraqi people.