The Plan: McGovern to meet with Congress on war

This week, 60 members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, a 62-member group led by Reps. Lynn Woolsey and Barbara Lee, will listen to former Democratic senator and presidential nominee George McGovern outline his strategy for extracting U.S. troops from Iraq by June (see Iraq, McGovern and Me: Now It's Your Move by Gary Gordon, ImpracticalProposals 2006-11-06).

If Democrats don't take steps to end the war in Iraq soon, they won't be in power very long, McGovern told reporters before a speech at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, according to the Associated Press.

"I think the Democratic leadership is wise enough to know that if they're going to follow the message that election sent, they're going to have to take steps to bring the war to a conclusion," he said.

McGovern's plan — outlined in a new book, "Out of Iraq: A Practical Plan for Withdrawal Now" by McGovern and scholar William Polk — calls for the United States to remove hired mercenaries from the region, push for the removal of British troops and establish a temporary transitional force, similar to police, made up of Muslims from the region.

"Never let the new class of Democrats forget that they're there in considerable part because of the war the American public has now turned against," McGovern said. "That's going to have to be something that they have to explore with Republicans and with the White House." An excerpt from McGovern's book is here.