Feingold: Troop withdrawal wouldn't mean abandoning Iraq

Sen. Russ Feingold, in an interview with Liberal Oasis blog, explained what he would envision if US troops left Iraq by the end of 2006, the target date he has proposed. Here's part of the Q-A:

LO: If your proposal to fully withdraw troops from Iraq by the end of 2006 was actually implemented, what, in your view, should happen in 2007? Does the US and the international community have a responsibility to provide humanitarian aid and help Iraq rebuild? Or is it Iraq’s responsibility to take care of itself without anyone’s help?

Feingold: My proposal is a target date for the end of the ground troop military mission. It is not a proposal that we have no military relationship with Iraq. In fact, it’s just the opposite.

What I would like to see us do if the Iraqi government is willing, is to have a continuing effort, as requested by the Iraqi government, to take targeted actions against terrorist cells within Iraq and nearby, as we are doing with other countries such as the Philippines and Indonesia and others. That’s the kind of military relationship we should have.

So, not only am I not proposing completely severing our ties with Iraq, I am proposing the potential for a much more effective and targeted military relationship.

And I am not proposing the elimination of our reconstruction efforts or our diplomatic efforts. Of course we want to continue to be engaged in helping the Iraqi people succeed.

The point is, is that they need to stand on their own militarily at some point in the not-too-distant future. And that’s why I have suggested the possible target date of the end of 2006. But disengaging completely from Iraq is not at all what I have suggested.

Read the entire interview.