A responsible plan to end the occupation in Iraq would be nice. We certainly aren’t getting one from our terribly senioritis-stricken, autopilot-cruising president and his administration.

Ten Democratic congressional candidates have put together a 36-page document outlining how they plan to end the occupation in Iraq. Darcy Burner, who is running against Republican Dave Reichert in Washington’s 8th Congressional District, is spearheading this proposal, titled “A responsible plan to end the war in Iraq.”

The document was put together with input from military advisers, including Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, who was the commanding general in Iraq prior to Gen. David Petraeus.

The plan also includes implementing recommendations from the nonpartisan Iraq Study Group and moving forward with existing legislation.

Right on the title page, the authors champion a quote from Gen. Petraeus from March 2007: “There is no military solution to a problem like that in Iraq.”

This document isn’t a pile of speculation — it’s well researched. It started out with 10 congressional challengers, and more than 50 have now signed on.

This is refreshing, especially since the Republican plan is to “see how it goes,” with no end in sight.

Conservatives don’t like to support domestic welfare programs because they claim that it creates a dependent lifestyle. That’s what we’re doing in Iraq. The purpose of the surge was to allow time for political progress.

Minimal progress has been made, like the removal of Baath party members from power and amnesty for bureaucrats who helped run the day-to-day operation of government under Saddam Hussein.

Conservatives will champion this as forthright progress, but there has been no progress on Iraq’s constitution, oil revenue sharing and disarming militias.

We saw how Iraqi forces couldn’t disarm militias in Basra last week, as they had to call our forces in to save them. It’s not our job to secure their country, and it’s not our job to fight their civil battles.

Burner argued in a March 25 Seattle Times op-ed that thinking a military solution is achievable is a false assumption. “False assumption is the biggest obstacle this country has faced in ending the war,” she wrote.

The plan succinctly touches on a variety of topics, including our damaged military.

“Private militias have direct incentives to prolong the conflict rather than resolve it; their use needs to be phased out,” according to the proposal.

Naomi Klein’s latest book, The Shock Doctrine, which was released in September, touches on this. Klein reports that the Department of Homeland Security is a cesspool of private contractors.

Phasing out the contractors will help restore the prestige and might of our military.

Voters in the 8th Congressional District are lucky that they will get to send a hard-working candidate to Congress.

Although this is a rematch election against Reichert, the incumbent will go down in flames, especially since he’s in lockstep with the Bush-McCain policies.

According to power rankings published on www.congress.org, Reichert is ranked the 401st most powerful member of the House. Based on his performance, Reichert seems to think he deserves a fifth and sixth year to represent his district.

Reichert sold the rights to his book Chasing the Devil, to be made into a movie. It wasn’t a theatrical release. It wasn’t even an HBO production. Reichert’s story was told alongside quality programming such as The Golden Girls and Reba.

Burner’s plan has garnered a lot of media attention — it has been discussed on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos and The Rachel Maddow Show on Air America Radio, and it’s spreading through the Internet like a wildfire.

[Reach columnist Ryan Morden at opinion@thedaily.washington.edu.]