Chellie Pingree offers Petraeus an exit strategy

April 9, 2008 TheNation.com by John Nichols.

...Baghdad is locked down under curfew.

U.S. Embassy personnel are under orders to seek "hardened cover."

And General David Petraeus is telling Congress about the many successes of his "surge" strategy.

Petraeus should not be joking with members Congress about how "the champagne bottle has been pushed to the back of the fridge."

Petraeus should be listening to Congress, which is, after all, supposed to be providing the civilian leadership that the Constitution says guide decisions about where the U.S. military is deployed and for how long.

And those members of the House who confront Petraeus would be wise to borrow a page from a candidate who would like to join them.

Former Common Cause president Chellie Pingree, who is seeking an open House seat from Maine, says "There is a way to get out of Iraq."

As part of her campaign, she is asking supporters to email Petraeus and urge the general to read the Responsible Plan to End the War.

"I helped create the Responsible Plan with other progressive Congressional candidates and military and national security experts because we believed there is no justification for our continued presence in Iraq," says Pingree. "The billions of dollars we've spent in Iraq are billions of dollars we haven't spent rebuilding our own economy -- fixing our schools, our roads, and our broken health care system. It's time to end the war in Iraq responsibly, bring our troops home, and stop spending $400 million a day on a war that most Americans now agree is unwinnable."

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