Putting Politics Aside, Biden and Brownback Share Their Plan for Iraq

Although both candidates tried to play down the historic nature of their joint appearance in Des Moines Friday, it was hard to ignore the novelty of seeing presidential hopefuls Joe Biden, a Democrat, and Sam Brownback, a Republican, share the stage, let alone agree on one of the most divisive issues in public policy.

But that’s what happened at the tony Wakonda Club in Des Moines when the two U.S.  senators met to discuss their proposal to scale down tensions in Iraq. The duo spoke to members of the Greater Des Moines Committee on Foreign Relations about their plan to split Iraq into three semi-autonomous regions — largely Kurdish, Sunni and Shiite — with a weak central government to handle the distribution of oil revenue and other national concerns.

“We’re delighted to give you a preview of the general election,” Biden joked. “We often don’t agree on much. But one of the things we do agree on is that the situation in Iraq is more important than who will be the next president of the United States.”

Longtime political observers in the state say there’s never been a time in the history of the caucuses when candidates from the two parties have shared the stage to endorse the same proposal. Both men trail the pack in current polling of Iowa voters and have experienced trouble raising cash to finance their campaigns.But the candidates were quick to discount the political nature of a joint appearance and dismissed questions about the political benefits of the event, which was covered by about a dozen reporters from media outlets including Time magazine and the Chicago Tribune.

The Biden-Brownback amendment calls for devolving power from the central government in Iraq. It passed the Senate by a vote of 75-23 in September. Biden, of Delaware, and Brownback, of Kansas, maintained their plan for Iraq would be the best solution toward stabilizing the country along the ethnic lines of the Shias, Sunnis and Kurds, with a loose federal government in Baghdad that would involve itself in sharing of oil revenues and coinage.

Brownback and Biden said the legislation, which still must be passed in the House, is aimed at helping the Iraqi people restructure their government and put an end to sectarian violence. Brownback said 4 million Iraqis already have moved to new areas of the country in order to separate themselves from their rivals. “People are voting with their feet,” he said.

Brownback said the joint appearance was held to focus on a “a serious foreign policy issue and to sew seeds of hope in this country.” He said the two wanted to show “that we can come together on a tough topic where there has been division all year long in this country and find a bipartisan way forward.”

Biden said ambassadors from the five permanent members of the United Nation’s Security Council endorsed the plan during a meeting with him. “Every single solitary  ambassador representing the permanent five said ‘absolutely.’”

Biden said if the proposal is accepted, the United States should push to limit the military’s mission in Iraq to fighting al Qaeda and training Iraqi troops. That would lower the number of deaths caused by roadside attacks of troops, he said, noting that 73 percent of all injuries to Americans were caused this way.