Joseph Lieberman, Senator for Iraq

Question: Is Sen. Joseph Lieberman, a US Senator from Connecticut, or is he the Senator-at-Large for US-occupied Iraq? Or is he perhaps both? Watching him pontificate last Sunday on Meet the Press, it was rather hard to say.

Sen. Lieberman originally  favored the invasion of Iraq and seems even more enthusiastic about the current occupation. He knows most Americans have the jitters about the open-ended occupation of Iraq and the continuing drip-drip-drip of casualties. So he spent some time assuring the his TV audience that morale in the armed forces was high and the attitude of the new Iraq “government” was optimistic. He praised the new Iraqi leaders as “patriots” and at the same time, he implied that he just can’t wait for insurgents to be defeated so that democracy might prevail.

When exactly this miraculous event known as "defeating the insurgents" will occur, he was unable to say. Which means, basically that the US occupation of Iraq will might go on for years if politicians like Sen. Lieberman have their way.

His blind support for the administration’s policy in Iraq is bad enough, but the Senator compounded the situation when he started criticizing Americans at home who have second thoughts about the wisdom of invading and occupying a Middle Eastern country. He can’t understand , he said, why more Americans aren’t more optimistic about the future of Iraq. “The fascinating and hopeful point we're at is that the Iraqi people are more optimistic about their future than the American people seem to be about the future of Iraq.”

“Fascinating and hopeful.”? What exactly is so fascinating about car bombings? And that last I heard, political assassinations don’t make anyone hopeful about anything. For some reason Sen. Lieberman seems oblivious to the very powerful negative images that have appeared on TV, the Internet and the mainstream press.

With several US soldiers being killed every day, how can Sen. Lieberman act surprised and dismayed that more  Americans fail to share his  optimism about the occupation?

Nor do  car bombings do much  to create optimism that democracy  in Iraq will catch on anytime soon.

Quote: “The danger is that the terrorists and insurgents can win politically by dividing the American people and, of course, by dividing people in Iraq. Today, I find the Iraqi people to be extremely optimistic, our troops to be very proud of what they're doing. Of course, they want to come home. None of them are whining. So I think if the American people focus on what's happening there, this battle in Iraq is the main battleground in our war against terrorism. This is the test of a generation. Can we stop radical Islamic jihadism which wants to destroy everything that's not like itself from growing and growing? And in Iraq we have the ability to show a great Arab nation a different way to a better life. And that's what's happening on the ground.”

Actually what’s happening on the ground are more car bombings, RPG attacks and assassinations. And some of the troops are whining, or at least complaining about long tours of overseas duty. Reservists are complaining too.

Sen. Lieberman says that Iraq is now the main battleground in our war against terrorism. Yet prior to the US invasion of Iraq, there were no terrorist attacks against Americans in Iraq. Yes, Saddam Hussein was a monster and it’s good that he’s gone. But on balance, at least in terms of US interests, the world is not any safer because of our invasion of Iraq. In fact what the Senator calls “radical Islamic jihadism” is alive and well in Iraq and even more dangerous because of our invasion. The invasion of Iraq accomplished little more than stimulate Islamic terrorists throughout the world. Mr Bush’s actions, meant to turn back terrorism, have in fact failed and are producing precisely the opposite effect of what he intended. Sen. Lieberman is either unaware of this fact or he is deliberately ignoring it.

During the Meet the Press interview, Sen. Lieberman bemoans the fact that of the $18 billion or so appropriated to rebuild Iraq, very little has been spent. But it is hard to spend money on foreign contractors when they are subject to ambush by terrorists carrying machine guns and rocket launchers. But, things are not all bad, says the Senator, hospitals are open, schools are open, electricity is flowing and water is available. Which is true, as far as it goes, but since there’s no real security in Iraq without American soldiers and tanks around to guarantee it,  and since US soldiers and tanks cannot be everywhere, to talk about some Iraq public services functioning is just meaningless rhetoric.

Americans soldiers are still getting killed at the rate of about two or three a day.  Iraqis casualties are much higher. 

Sen. Lieberman implies that the American people are “whining” because they are concerned that the invasion of Iraq and the current occupation are not working. He also accuses the American people of not focusing on Iraq.

Where does he get this idea? Americans are focusing on Iraq. Americans are concerned with what is happening in Iraq. And it turns out they don’t like what they see. He also implies that somehow are another the American people are not supporting the troops. That statement is just out and out wrong. All Americans want the troops in the field to be fully provisioned.  Much more than that, they would also like to see them come home alive and in one piece.

The Senator’s basic point is, that in his opinion, US has an open-ended commitment to Iraq and that we will stay there for as long as it takes until something he calls “victory” is achieved. That is the equivalent to saying that we will be in Iraq indefinitely.

Another quote: “…I think if the American people focus on what's happening there, this battle in Iraq is the main battleground in our war against terrorism. This is the test of a generation. Can we stop radical Islamic jihadism which wants to destroy everything that's not like itself from growing and growing? And in Iraq we have the ability to show a great Arab nation a different way to a better life. And that's what's happening on the ground.”

In fact the Iraq occupation fosters the very jihadism that we are trying to defeat. It’s a never ending cycle of violence and will not end until the US withdraws from Iraq. It’s time the Senator-at-Large from Iraq realized this basic truth.

Punditwalla--