OBAMARAMA

In a press release and an email to supporters tonight, Sen. Obama announced his Iraq War De-escalation Act of 2007. According to the email and the Associated Press, the bill “would cap troop levels in Iraq at the early January level of around 130,000, when Bush announced he would send 21,500 additional U.S. forces to Iraq” and would “require that troops begin coming home on May 1 with the goal of removing all combat brigades by March 31, 2008.”

From the email:

In a civil war where no military solution exists, this redeployment remains our best leverage to pressure the Iraqi government to achieve the political settlement between its warring factions that can slow the bloodshed and promote stability. The U.S. military has performed valiantly and brilliantly in Iraq. Our troops have done all we have asked them to do and more. But no amount of American soldiers can solve the political differences at the heart of somebody else’s civil war, nor settle the grievances in the hearts of the combatants.

When it comes to the war in Iraq, the time for promises and assurances, for waiting and patience, is over. Too many lives have been lost and too many billions have been spent for us to trust the President on another tried and failed policy opposed by generals and experts, Democrats and Republicans, Americans and even the Iraqis themselves.

Sen. Obama presented his plan in response to President Bush’s call for alternatives from critics of his escalation proposal. In his interview with the AP, Sen. Obama said that “It is important at this point that Congress offer specific constructive approaches to what’s proven to be a foreign policy disaster, because we’ve got too much at stake to simply stand on the sidelines and criticize.”

His proposal differs from that of other Democrats (such as John Edwards and Tom Vilsack) who have called on Congress to refuse to fund the escalation, noting that such a policy “could genuinely [create] a Constitutional crisis or at least a crisis on the ground where the president continues to send troops there but now they’re being shortchanged in terms of armaments and support.”

Interestingly, Sen. Obama’s bill will reportedly include a provision that will allow the redeployment of troops to be temporarily suspended “if the Iraqis meet security, political and economic benchmarks.” Carrots and sticks.

Here’s the senator’s introduction of the bill on the Senate floor this evening:

How will the plan be received? RunObama notes that many bloggers on the left have already leveled high praise for Sen. Obama’s proposal. More analysis to come soon, undoubtedly.