Not a bad start...

Thanks to Atrios for linking to this:

A Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq

It's not perfect, but it's a pretty good start.

The authors (noted below) begin with strategic objectives:

The objectives we are aiming to accomplish include:
• An end to US military obligations and costs in Iraq.
• An end to wide-scale civilian deaths in Iraq, and broader protection for human rights there.
• Reducing the threat posed to the rest of the world by an unstable Iraq, including the threat posed by the use of Iraq as a terrorist training ground.
• A U.S. energy policy that frees us from our dependence on oil.
• Repairing U.S. institutions to avoid making the same mistake again.

As I've stated frequently, without strategic objectives in mind it's very difficult to figure out how to reach the desired end state. This section of the report in fact is labeled,

The Desired End State

(Who knows, maybe one of the authors reads this blog!)

Each objective is treated in detail. What are the specific actions needed to achieve it?

The authors manage to stuff lots of items that seem only tangentially related to getting out of Iraq into the last objective, "repairing U.S. institutions". I can't quarrel with any of the items included therein. Among them,

Challenging legal status of signing statements;
Restoring habeas corpus;
and
Ending warrantless electronic surveillance.

Among the specifics that delight me, I am particularly happy to see stated explicitly,

The timelines laid out in the Iraq Study Group should be updated, but in accordance with those recommendations, troop draw-downs should begin immediately and continue until no more troops remain in Iraq.
The timeline should not be dependent on the Iraqis.

That's right: the authors acknowledge that, when it comes to our security, we don't need anyone's permission!

The report references the ISG Final Report frequently, as well as existing drafts of House Resolutions. The authors have done their homework.

Here are the authors:

PRESENTED TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE BY
DARCY BURNER candidate for U.S. House, Washington
DONNA EDWARDS candidate for U.S. House, Maryland
ERIC MASSA candidate for U.S. House, New York
CHELLIE PINGREE candidate for U.S. House, Maine
TOM PERRIELLO candidate for U.S. House, Virginia
JARED POLIS candidate for U.S. House, Colorado
GEORGE FEARING candidate for U.S. House, Washington
LARRY BYRNES candidate for U.S. House, Florida
STEVE HARRISON candidate for U.S. House, New York
SAM BENNETT candidate for U.S. House, Pennsylvania

AND BY

MAJOR GENERAL PAUL EATON (U.S. ARMY RET.) former Security Transition Commanding General, Iraq
DR. LAWRENCE KORB former Assistant Secretary of Defense in the Reagan Administration
BRIGADIER GENERAL JOHN JOHNS (U.S. ARMY RET.) specialist in counterinsurgency and nation-building
CAPT. LARRY SEAQUIST (U.S. NAVY RET.) former commander of the U.S.S. Iowa and former Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Policy Planning

I've linked to the candidates' fundraising pages on ActBlue, if you're feeling generous & think these folks deserve recognition!

Note: I've some quibbles with some of the details, and would have stuffed fewer items into "repairing U.S. institutions", BUT... this is a pretty good start! (... and I have nothing better to offer!)