Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, today blasted Democrats calling for the ouster of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
"Forced by facts on the ground to acknowledge the progress of the American and Iraqi militaries since the new surge strategy started, some of these opponents of the war are now turning their harshest criticism on our allies in Iraq instead of our enemies. This is a mistake," Mr. Lieberman said.
"Whatever the shortcomings of our friends in Iraq, they are not an excuse to retreat from the real enemies who threaten our vital national interests there."
His remarks come as Mr. Maliki and the Iraqi government is criticized by Democrats -- including presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, chairman of the Armed Services Committee -- to justify a speedy pullout of U.S. troops.
"Ironically, it was not so long ago that many in Congress criticized the Bush administration for what they described as its heavy-handed and patronizing treatment of our most important allies in the world," Mr. Lieberman said. "Now many of those very critics make the exact same mistake in their treatment of the Iraqis, whose citizens -- lest we forget -- are fighting and dying every day in the struggle against al Qaeda, and in far higher numbers than any other nationality."
"Ultimately, the choice we face in Iraq is not between the current Iraqi government and a perfect Iraqi government," he said. "Rather, it is a choice between a young, imperfect, struggling democracy that we have helped midwife into existence, and the totalitarian, terrorist regime that al Qaeda hopes to impose in its place, should we retreat."
-- S.A. Miller, Capitol Hill correspondent, The Washington Times
Comments (16)
It's apparent to me that Senator Lieberman has lost sight of reality.
Posted by Peter Webster | August 23, 2007 7:10 PM
It seems that all the Democrats have done for the past seven years is criticize. The reality is, we are in Iraq. We couldn't have gone into Iraq without congressional (Democrats and Republican) approval! So, Joe Lieberman is correct, instead of criticizing, these James Dean like wannabe's (whining because Dad wheres a flak vest and not an apron) need to wake up and understand that Iraqi's are people, not political levers.
Posted by Larry Stone | August 24, 2007 3:03 AM
What better endorsement could Prime Minister Maliki hope for than that of an Orthodox Jew? With support like this, he won't have any trouble leading his Muslim nation.
Posted by Blanca DeBree | August 24, 2007 7:28 AM
I thought Joe Lieberman was an American citizen who declared himself as an independent.
Posted by Larry Stone | August 24, 2007 10:38 AM
The Democrats have no solutions. So they substitute endless criticism with real action, and hope the American public will confuse motion with progress. Even their most prominent leaders have proven to be useless in providing real solutions to the issues of this nation. They got their chance to bring about the change they promised. I hope everyone remembers this and sends them packing come next election cycle.
Posted by Angela | August 24, 2007 11:46 AM
It is a reality that they (Democrats) lost a truly great leader when he left the party. Wish he would think seriouly about becoming a Republican. He would get three votes from this household. Not only brillant but has common sense too!!!
Posted by Rosalie Hailey | August 24, 2007 12:19 PM
>>Wish he would think seriously about becoming a Republican>>
No way. He's a Democrat heart and soul, and couldn't support a Republican agenda, especially if it was as conservative as the Republican roots are supposed to make it. Nevertheless, you make a good point in that he no longer is representative of what is now the Democratic party, and doesn't seem to belong there. He sure must feel lonely out there - I hope others who feel like he does will join him and take back the party. If not, then Independent he must remain. I understand your feelings though - he's an honorable man.
Posted by suek | August 24, 2007 1:00 PM
Please, Joe, just join with those who are fightng for america in this war, . . . publicly . . in their uniform
Change the balance in the senate to war wnners
Posted by Don BAgby | August 24, 2007 2:58 PM
I have and will continue to applaud Senator Lieberman for his very intelligent and SANE support of our mission in Iraq. His criticism of his fellow Democrats (if he still considers himself one) and their quisling, completely unpatriotic rhetoric in which they indulge for purely self-serving reasons. That being said, Senator Lieberman does not share many other Republican or Conservative values and perhaps he is truly best able to serve the nation from his position as "neither fish nor fowl" so to speak! For one thing - he can turn the Senate majority on its ear any old time he wants to do it and that keeps the Dems somewhat in check. And when, as has been their recent pattern, Republicans develop deplorably weak knees, he can force them to rediscover their spines!
Joe Lieberman is an honorable man - and I like him positioned just as he is for the good of the entire country: Dems and Pubies alike! And he has an exceptional grasp of reality.
Posted by Gayle Miller | August 24, 2007 4:25 PM
Senator Lieberman would you consider coming to Michigan? We don't have any Senators in this state................who are not self serving party sycophants. A real American is what we need....
Posted by Larry Mason in Michigan | August 24, 2007 5:39 PM
Lost sight of reality ? Criticism of an Orthodox Jew supporting a Leader of a Muslim Nation ? It pains Me to see this tripe by what is considered the mainstream of My party. Embarrassing really. No substance just empty rhetoric. Considering that the Democrat Party used to know the word Victory . WW II, Cuban missile crisis, Korea was a split issue. And had JFK not been assassinated I believe the Vietnam war would have been handled differently, Johnson was over His head. Joe Liberman is the only True Democrat/Independent left with a National Voice.
Posted by Jersey George | August 25, 2007 3:44 PM
joe.
your the wrong flavor for me, but you
are what used to be a real senator who
speaks his mind and beliefs, without party
baggage.
we need more joe libermans in congress
to do whats right for america, not whats
right for their party.
you are my hero.
david conner
scottsdale az
Posted by david j conner | August 25, 2007 8:56 PM
Remember Gore & Lieberman? I think the Dems got it backwards...it should have been Lieberman & Gore; they might have won!
Posted by Thad | August 26, 2007 3:31 PM
Ya know, it must suck to be Joe Lieberman these days. First, he can't even win the nomination of his own party in last year's primary, so instead of bowing out gracefully - which, remember is exactly what he said he would do (not run for more than three terms, quit after that) - he had to instead have a "contingency plan" already set-to-go in case he did lose the primary. The idea was: run as an "independent," and pray that the real GOP candidate in Connecticut gets abandoned by his own party, so that Lieberman can pick up enough GOP votes to do what he was unable to do within his own party.
That's gotta hurt, for a guy who only recently was like some "Third Way" colossus, astride the political divide like no one else except possibly John McCain...at least if you believe the media's version of it. And now, he's forced to resort to abandoning the party which nurtured him because his views have become so indistinguishable from the Republicans, and in particular, from George Bush's own, that only with significant (read: near-total) support in the general election could he retain his seat. C'mon, Joe, you yourself said you were gonna step down gracefully after three terms, and wonder of wonders, fate would have it that at the end of your third term, your party didn't even want your "experience" enough to retain your services for another go-round. And this is how you answer them? By breaking your own vows and defying the will of the majority of your constituents from your party?
And if that weren't enough, then there's Lieberman's increasing irrelevance on the national stage. Now that his next election isn't for another five years, and his use as a "reasonable Democrat" (read: useful idiot) for the Bush administration has little value anymore, he apparently isn't even kept in the loop on this stuff anymore. Witness this brave, outspoken press release which Marhshall Wittman and Lieberman concocted, lambasting "congressional Democrats" for criticizing the Al-Maliki government in Iraq. I guess no one at the White House or in the Intel services remembered to tell ol' Joementum that the upcoming NIE on Iraq was about to get pre-released in the form of its Key Judgments section. And what's funny about that is that it was released mere hours after Lieberman and Wittman embargoed this press release...oh, and also, I suppose, that it uses arguments and viewpoints which in many instances are nearly indistinguishable from the ones Lieberman had just criticed Democrats for using.
Will LieberClown now put forth a follow-up press release, saying that the entirety of our nation's intel service is also "turning their harshest criticism on our allies in Iraq instead of our enemies?" Will he chide them that "this is a mistake?"
What. An. Idiot. is our Mr. Lieberman. I guess he never learned the first rule of what to do when you discover you're in a hole: stop digging.
Posted by RealityBites | August 26, 2007 9:04 PM
What a refreshing person Sen Lieberman is. A senator who actually says and votes for what he thinks is right, not one who follows the party line like a lemming. Too bad there are not more senators who use their mind to actually think, instead of checking them into the Democratic Party to be programmed to follow the party line.
Posted by joe mcCullough | August 28, 2007 12:25 PM
Dear RealityBites;
I love your clear thinking, insightful, fair and thoughtful analysis of why Joe Lieberman shouldn't have run, is now a 'useful idiot', that the war in Iraq is a loser so Joe, 'you ain't got the flick' and, Joe, you're a loser in a hole.
Hmm, all of this because the everybody on the Democrat Party's train drank so much left wing Kool-Aid, that they flew off of the track so far to the left that even San Francisco is out their right window.
Instead of this genius at least acknowledging that Joe Lieberman was re-elected (Mr. Bites blames the loser Republicans) or even acknowledging that the electorate re-elected him, Mr. Bites simply says what a hole Joe is in. How insightful.
What a wonderful reaffirmation of the Democratic vision which is.......? Hmmm. As an ex Democrat of some 50 years, and finally having the light dawn on me that the Democratic party has had NO, ZERO, NADA, ZILCH foreign policy (other than 'cut n'run) as espoused by that wonderful war hero John Kerry and, a domestic policy that is centered on keeping the poor, poor (kind of like the pigs who moved into the farmer's house in Animal Farm....the animals, after they threw the Farmer, read Capitalist evil warmongers off of the farm, started their 'all animals are equal and then moved into the house, where the animals stayed in the barn...some revolution).
Posted by Tom Lawson | August 30, 2007 9:03 PM