Lieberman Declares Mission Accomplished: ‘The Tide Has Turned In Iraq,’ ‘We Are Winning’
Lieberman Declares Mission Accomplished: ‘The Tide Has Turned In Iraq,’ ‘We Are Winning’
The U.S. military announced the death of six soldiers yesterday, “taking the number of deaths this year to 851 and making 2007 the deadliest year of the war for American troops.”
While the violence rages in Iraq, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) is ready to declare mission accomplished. Yesterday, speaking to an audience who greeted him with “warm applause,” Lieberman declared that the U.S. was turning the corner in Iraq:
“I’m proud to say that the tide has turned in Iraq and we’re winning that war,” Lieberman said. “And if we don’t let down our troops, they’re going to bring home a victory that will protect us here at home from today’s threat — totalitarian terrorist Islamism that’s trying to take our liberty from us.”
In reality, the U.S. is drifting further away from “victory.” In October, civilian deaths increased, according to statistics obtained by the Iraqi government. A recent report from the Special Inspector General for Iraq reconstruction last month found little prospect of “lasting” reconciliation in Iraq.
Lieberman’s prediction is the latest in a line of premature declarations of victory. Throughout the war, he has repeatedly called for staying the course, claiming that we are “winning” the war:
– “Overall, I would say what I see here today is progress, significant progress from the last time I was here in December. And if you can see progress in war that means you’re headed in the right direction.” [5/30/07]
– “The last two weeks…may be seen as a turning point.” [12/17/05]
– “Does America have a good plan for doing this, a strategy for victory in Iraq? Yes we do.” [11/29/05]
– “We have to stay the course in Iraq now. … If we do that, we will…have won a victory in the war on terrorism.” [1/4/04]
Lieberman will readily ignore the realities in Iraq in order to push for his goal of unending war in the Middle East.
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If that man starts to look any more like a shar-pei, someone’s going to put a collar on him and take him for walkies…
November 6th, 2007 at 2:35 pmYeah!!! Things are great!! Don’t stop believin’!!!
http://www.tshirtinsurgency.com
November 6th, 2007 at 2:35 pmThe mission in Iraq has long been accomplished. We oughtta get outta there now. I believe we are wasting our resources in that country right now. That nation ought to be left to its own devices, and we should always reserve a right to strike, if we believe there is an imminent threat to our security
November 6th, 2007 at 2:35 pmYou bet we are !!
Just announced–the highest yearly death toll.
∞
November 6th, 2007 at 2:36 pmOfftopic again, but I’m wondering why TP hasn’t covered Dennis Kucinich’s resolution to impeach Cheney….it’s still going on on Cspan.
November 6th, 2007 at 2:36 pmGod. I hate how “totalitarian terrorist islamists” in Iraq came and attacked us and our freedom. Remember when that happened, guys??
yeah… me neither..
http://www.tshirtinsurgency.com
November 6th, 2007 at 2:37 pmwe should always reserve a right to strike, if we believe there is an imminent threat to our security
Comment by hits — November 6, 2007 @ 2:35 pm
Why don’t you kill them all already, just in case? It’s the only way to be sure, right? Right?
November 6th, 2007 at 2:38 pmAll politicians – regardless of flavor – are clearly morons.
November 6th, 2007 at 2:39 pmThe US Army cannot be defeated and therefore it can never lose. Of course we’re winning in Iraq and we’ve been winning ever since we went in. I assure you that we will still be winning in Iraq if we’re still there twenty years from now.
If “winning”, just like that other idiotic term “terrorism”, does not need to be defined, we’ll be winning in Iraq forever.
November 6th, 2007 at 2:39 pmYou pathetic bastard!! Go in the corner and sit with your other pals…Feinstein and Schumer. Maybe all of you can rub pee pees together!!
November 6th, 2007 at 2:39 pmDelusional much…?
November 6th, 2007 at 2:40 pmThousands Return to Safer Iraqi Capital
Nov 3 02:39 PM US/Eastern
By STEVEN R. HURST
Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD (AP) – In a dramatic turnaround, more than 3,000 Iraqi families driven out of their Baghdad neighborhoods have returned to their homes in the past three months as sectarian violence has dropped, the government said Saturday.
Saad al-Azawi, his wife and four children are among them. They fled to Syria six months ago, leaving behind what had become one of the capital’s more dangerous districts—west Baghdad’s largely Sunni Khadra region.
The family had been living inside a vicious and bloody turf battle between al-Qaida in Iraq and Mahdi Army militiamen. But Azawi said things began changing, becoming more peaceful, in August when radical anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered his Mahdi Army fighters to stand down nationwide…
But, U.S. officials say, al-Qaida overplayed its hand with Iraq’s Sunnis, who practice a moderate version of Islam. American forces were quick to capitalize on the upheaval, welcoming former Sunni enemies as colleagues in securing what was once the most dangerous region of the country.
And as 30,000 additional U.S. forces arrived for the crackdown in Baghdad and central Iraq, the American commander, Gen. David Petraeus, began stationing many of them in neighborhood outposts. The mission was not only to take back control but to foster neighborhood groups like the one in Khadra to shake off al-Qaida’s grip.
The 40-year-old al-Azawi, who has gone back to work managing a car service, said relatives and friends persuaded him to bring his family home…
Sattar Nawrous, a spokesman for the Ministry of Displacement and Migration, said the al-Azawi family was among 3,100 that have returned to their homes in Baghdad in the past 90 days … More than four months after U.S. forces completed a 30,000-strong force buildup, the death toll for both Iraqis and Americans has fallen dramatically for two months running.
http://www.breitbart.com/ article.php?id=D8SMC1HG0&show_article=1&catnum=0
November 6th, 2007 at 2:40 pmIf after 5 years we haven’t defeated a third rate, third world, country–
THEN WE’VE LOST.
∞
November 6th, 2007 at 2:40 pmReally Joe? Winning what? Impeachment? I agree 100%…. cspan has impeachment resolution on right now.
November 6th, 2007 at 2:41 pmKucinich has made a point of privilege to bring his Cheney impeachment resolution to the floor of the House, but the so-called Democratic leadership, Pelosi, Hoyer, te al., will move to kill it.
November 6th, 2007 at 2:42 pm“… a victory that will protect us here at home from today’s threat — totalitarian terrorist Islamism that’s trying to take our liberty from us.â€
No, Joe. You’re support of the Bush Administration riding roughshod over the Bill of Rights is what is taking our liberty from us. You shameless liar.
November 6th, 2007 at 2:43 pm#15 – i agree, dems are truly spineless.
November 6th, 2007 at 2:43 pmMahdi army called a cease fire in August [URL=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3612168.stmas]http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3612168.stmas[/URL] Their army was starting to disintegrate due to all the areas that had been cleansed of Sunnis; Moqtada Sadr is consolidating power. Factions were forming among the Shia so he wanted to make sure he kept control and stayed as their main leader. (Yet another known despot like Saddam that should be in jail but will be a “partner for peace” and will have to be dealt with at some future time, we learn nothing from our history and are doomed to repeat these mistakes.)
Its sad, all the surge troops didn’t do a damn thing, but this thug and his merry band of torturers has control and can escalate and deescalate the situation. Of course Bush will claim the surge is working, when A) violence is less during the summer (something about 140 degrees takes the fight out of anyone) B) They reset the bench marks for what constitutes Iraqi death by sectarian violence C) the neighborhoods are less diverse than before; 1 million dead, 2 million refugees outside Iraq and 2 million refugees inside Iraq and since the country had 25 million to start ..well its pretty sad, a lot of blood on our hands.
There are 3 months left of the Mahdi cease fire and with Turkey ready to attack the Kurds in the north, the only stable area of Iraq, the deaths will go up. We need our troops out NOW! And I hope they take the corrupt contractors with them; the blackwaters and halliburton’s are doing more harm than good.
There is a lot of resistance at the polls, that’s how the Democrats won last November; the people did their part voted so overwhelmingly for Democrats last election that all the Karl Rove election rigging wasn’t enough to stop the landslide. We really don’t own this war; there isn’t rationing, there isn’t a draft, we are not being attacked so we the people don’t feel it directly only the poor troops going back again and again to 130 degree summers with no AC, defective body amour if any, no armored vehicles.
We need either more Democrats that can over ride veto’s, Republicans to honor their oath of office or replace the lot of them. Democrats should vote the Green party and GOP should vote Libertarian and get rid of these two bloated useless parties who only pander to the special interests and make money off the war and poor health care, exporting good paying jobs in the name of free trade, take money from excessive polluters and ignore the problems with immigration.
When the dollar drops another 20% and Bush asks and gets and other 50 billion in December while vetoing health care for children, another state has a disaster and that local national guard is not there to help; maybe we will feel the war and the corruption and more than 10,000 will show up to a peace rally in a city of 12 million.
November 6th, 2007 at 2:45 pmMakes on question Mr. LIEberman’s loyalties.
Is it to America or Israel?
November 6th, 2007 at 2:45 pmPlease, Joe, strap on a codpiece, pick up a rifle and show us how to fight them over there so we don’t have to put up with you over here.
November 6th, 2007 at 2:45 pmOk if it is all sunshine and roses bring our military home or at least to the bases at the edge of Iraq out of alot of harms way.
So exactly what is the Bush criteria to bring our people home?
November 6th, 2007 at 2:46 pm‘ totalitarian terrorist Islamism that’s trying to take our liberty from us…”
Did the Iraqis try to take our freedoms from us?
Lieberman would like us to believe that.
Lieberman would like us also to wipe out all Middle Eastern countries to protect Israel,and engage in wars for years to come the whole Middle Eastern countries to achieve such goal.
November 6th, 2007 at 2:46 pmA religious zealot like him will keep pushing for wars, just like he did in his last resolution in the Senate to open the door for another war , this time against Iran.
An now he is declaring victory in Iraq, so he can now take us to Iran.
Thanks Ex, but a very small and limited influx of people back to Iraq vs. the millions who have fled is not very balanced. What you are trying to illustrate with your story is the balloon effect: Squeeze the country in one direction, makes the country explode outward in the other direction.
BTW, if it was so safe, why is the State department having to order diplomats and such to serve in Iraq? I’m sure you have heard of the tremendous protests about this. Even the Green Zone is unsafe for our employees. On balance though, airfare to Bagdad is cheaper than ever.
November 6th, 2007 at 2:47 pmJuck you Foe!
November 6th, 2007 at 2:48 pmLieberman’s opinions are based on his definitions of “winning”. You need not agree with them. Your definition of “winning” can be somethign totally different, and your position may yet be consistent with his. Bottomline is this – my money is being wasted in Iraq right now, and I don’t like it
November 6th, 2007 at 2:48 pmdelusion
Function: noun
1: the act of deluding : the state of being deluded
November 6th, 2007 at 2:49 pm2 a: something that is falsely or delusively believed or propagated
2 b: The emotion terror is ready to sign a surrender agreement and the war will be over soon.
The only “totalitarian Islamists” I can think of are the Saudi Royal family and our BFF Musharref ion Pakistan.
November 6th, 2007 at 2:50 pmCSPAN is reading the charges for impeaching Dick Cheney on the House floor.
November 6th, 2007 at 2:50 pmhttp://www.c-span.org/watch/cs_cspan_rm.asp?Cat=TV&Code=CS
It’s time for a nationwide petition drive to call for Sen. Joe Lieberman to resign from the Senate, plus he can be turned over to the Hague as a war criminal.
November 6th, 2007 at 2:51 pmOh sure hits, you’re the antiwar activist around here. What is the matter with you? Did you have a stroke or something. You don’t need to convince US that the war was won years ago and the troops need to be brought home. Take it to one of those sites where your peeps, the truly delusional Bush supporters, hang out and explain it to them.
November 6th, 2007 at 2:52 pm#23 StratRat,
I understand what you are saying…But it is a undeniably a positive development that many would have thought unthinkable just a few short months ago. Civiliain and military casualties down….Car bombings down…People returning to their homes in Baghdad….These are all hopeful signs.
November 6th, 2007 at 2:52 pmExley, hits, TCDon and Billy Hill all in 32 comments or less. Who did we piss off? Or are we just unlucky?
November 6th, 2007 at 2:54 pmDear Senator Lieberman,
How do you “win” an unpopular imperial occupation in the 21st century?
I guess that the only way to “win” an unpopular imperial occupation in the 21st century is to simply assert that you are “winning” an unpopular imperial occupation in the 21st century.
And to think that this “winning” in occupied Iraq is only costing us some $2,000,000,000.00 each week. A real bargain, huh, Senator Lieberman.
Senator Lieberman: you are an idiot, a liar and a traitor to America.
November 6th, 2007 at 2:54 pmI’m with Clumberfeet (#27) on this one…
Liberman is a F)(*&ing IDIOT!
November 6th, 2007 at 2:55 pmSure Exley, 3 million refugees no problem. 3 thousand returned home, yippee!. What a tool.
November 6th, 2007 at 2:55 pmBottomline is this – my money is being wasted in Iraq right now, and I don’t like it
Comment by hits — November 6, 2007 @ 2:48 pm/i>
Geesh, hits – you’re a leeeettle slow, aren’t you?
November 6th, 2007 at 2:56 pmYet another misleading headline from TP.
Comment by TCDon — November 6, 2007 @ 2:49 pm
Hey TCDon when anybody around here wants your opinion we’ll … oh nevermind, nobody ever wants your opinion.
November 6th, 2007 at 2:56 pm#26 Your money has been wasted for the last 6 years wake up and smell the coffee ! Don’t know where you live but check out your infrastructure and how little money has come back to your state. You will be paying for this war for a long, long time have no doubt.
Who do you think will pay for the wounded for the rest of their lives?
All the programs to safe guard America has been short changed to pay for Bush’s ego war.
You had better hope China doesn’t call in the notes and foreclose on America.
November 6th, 2007 at 2:58 pmOh, and the caption under Loserman picture is wrong…Instead of I-Ct it should be M-Ct. FOR MORON!
November 6th, 2007 at 2:58 pmThe House is voting to table (ahem, kill) Kucinich’s Impeachment resolution. Right now, with about 9 minutes left, it’s 25 yeas, 4 nays.
November 6th, 2007 at 3:00 pmso, why did gore pick this SOB for a running mate?
November 6th, 2007 at 3:01 pmis his face melting?
November 6th, 2007 at 3:02 pmLieberman claims that the U.S. is “winning” in Iraq. He does not seem to be able to comprehend that the U.S. has about as much chance of winning in Iraq as it did in winning in Vietnam since the Iraqis, like the Vietnamese, will fight to the last man, woman and child is left standing until the United States is finally driven from their soil.
November 6th, 2007 at 3:03 pmStep right up and don’t be shy – for you will not believe your eyes….over there!!…over there!!
Here we have Schumer, Feinstein, and last but not forgotten by any means – Holy Joe Leiberman, giving Waterboarding lessons to other elected officials in the Democratic Party….
But…wait…just a minute…Who is that person lying on their waterboard?? OMG! OMG! I don’t believe it – It’s Keith Olberman from “Countdown”!!!
November 6th, 2007 at 3:04 pmI understand what you are saying…But it is a undeniably a positive development that many would have thought unthinkable just a few short months ago. Civiliain and military casualties down….Car bombings down…People returning to their homes in Baghdad….These are all hopeful signs.
Comment by Exley
Agreed. Any improvement is good news, however short lived. I just wish we had a more robust diplomatic team in place to take the small bits of good news and duplicate them all over the country. As we clean up one area, another area breaks out in violence. Then we move to counter that new violence, and another part seems to need attention. I hate to use the ‘whack a mole’ cliche here, but that is how it seems to me.
November 6th, 2007 at 3:04 pmjdc,
Actually the left-leaning New Republic just addressed the issue about how the apparent success of the surge will impact the Democrats in the 2008 presidential election:
“Some previously hard-to-imagine glimmers of hope are now emerging…This weekend an experienced Iraq correspondent–someone who has been extremely bleak about the war in the past–told me he thinks it’s really possible that the country is turning a corner.
What do the Democrats do if–yes: if, if, if–the surge appears to have succeeded? (Or at least seems, to voters, to have succeeded: I realize the tribal shift in Anbar, for instance, wasn’t imposed by US troops–although my correspondent friend said surge forces did enable us to exploit Sunni tribal cooperation and root out al Qaeda.) Indeed, if Iraq somehow stabilizes and even incrementally improves, doesn’t that affect the presidential campaign in important and unpredictable ways?
I’m not arguing that the surge has “worked,” or that Iraq is hunky-dory and the whole nightmare is about to be redeemed … I’m just suggesting that beneath all the current clamor about Hillary’s honesty and gender, a tectonic shift might be quietly developing. And I wonder whether the Democrats have been preparing for that possibility–and what their contingency plans are if the Iraq debate tacks substantially back the GOP’s way.”
http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_stump/archive/2007/11/04/just-asking-honestly.aspx#
November 6th, 2007 at 3:07 pmYou had better hope China doesn’t call in the notes and foreclose on America.
Comment by texaslady
The typical American citizen has no idea just how financially devastating this would be. We borrow billions and billions of dollars every week to pay our daily bills. It is the same as you and your family using your credit card to pay for everyday expenses like food and rent. Interest alone costs the US billions every year. If China decided to invest elsewhere, the US would be in a world of hurt.
November 6th, 2007 at 3:09 pmStratRat,
The key is the Iraqi national government. All the military success of the surge will not be worth much unless the Iraqis can form a truly unified government. A lasting victory against Al Qaeda in Iraq depends on that.
November 6th, 2007 at 3:10 pmAnd while we have been freeing Iraqis now Afganistan is heating up.. AGAIN. Whack a mole is an ideal description. And lets not forget Turkey, Pakistan the list goes on and on. But hey, lets not worry about them lets BOMB IRAN . Let’s do it alphabetically and the next I is Iran.
Lets just take over the whole Middle East after all we need to show them how wrong their culture is and our democracy works so well. Shove it down their throats if the protest.
November 6th, 2007 at 3:11 pmWho do you think is more distraught over the remarkable turnaround in Iraq…
The enemies of America or the Democrat Party.
Comment by jdc — November 6, 2007 @ 3:00 pm
The Democrats are the ones that wanted the war over and the soldiers brought home. If there is a turnaround then the return of the soldiers should be imminent. Why would we be unhappy? Why don’t you think before you go engaging that mouth?
November 6th, 2007 at 3:12 pmI can’t believe I voted for a Democratic ticket including this war monger.
Does anyone have any explanations for why he is like this – beyond 9/11 changing everything?
November 6th, 2007 at 3:13 pmWho do you think is more distraught over the remarkable turnaround in Iraq…
The enemies of America or the Democrat Party.
Comment by jdc — November 6, 2007 @ 3:00 pm
Remarkable turnaround? Wow – if we just spend the other half of that trillion dollars, we can get it back to as good as it was under Saddam!
November 6th, 2007 at 3:15 pmWhat Americans can’t see is the influence China has and will continue to have on our imports because of the trillions we owe them.
We have been sold on the communist threat from Cuba and we let China into our homes, and buy our country.
The latest is the drug companies have ingredients in their products from China and not bothered to test their quality. Makes me feel comfortable with our Federal control.
November 6th, 2007 at 3:16 pmHow did this man fall so far so fast?
November 6th, 2007 at 3:16 pmunderstand what you are saying…But it is a undeniably a positive development that many would have thought unthinkable just a few short months ago. Civiliain and military casualties down….Car bombings down…People returning to their homes in Baghdad….These are all hopeful signs.
Comment by Exley — November 6, 2007 @ 2:52 pm
It all depends, I guess, on which sites you choose to look at.
You always want the glass to be half-full, Exley, but it appears to others to be considerably more than half-empty.
November 6th, 2007 at 3:16 pmComment by Exley — November 6, 2007 @ 3:07 pm
Please? And today Repbulican strategists were saying the only chance the Republicans had of winning was if there was another terror attack or another war. You people are unbelievable in the crap you believe. If the war ended tomorrow the Democrats would be in a much better position than they are today. And if they moved to impeach Cheney, they’d be unbeatable.
November 6th, 2007 at 3:17 pmIt was reported today that the number of Iraqis who have been displaced from their homes, since the surge began, has quadrupled, and as of today 2007 has become the deadliest year for American troops since invading Iraq. Also, October was the deadliest month this year for Iraqis.
If this is winning, what the hell is losing?
November 6th, 2007 at 3:18 pmDiajohuck Feinliebermermanschustein.
It virtually rolls off the tongue. (But leaves a nasty aftertaste).
November 6th, 2007 at 3:18 pm#57 To say Liebermann has fallen would mean he was somewhere above? Does the words Republican money come to mind? When he was being beaten out who do you think promised a win win with cash?
Have to say, his loyalty goes to the highest bidder.
November 6th, 2007 at 3:18 pmComment by Exley — November 6, 2007 @ 2:52 pm
None of these “improvements” mean anything if it’s not followed with political solutions to Iraq’s problems. These have to come from the Iraqis and there is no improvements in this area.
How much longer will the “surge” have to stay in place for there to be significant improvement? How will this be supported militarily? If it can be determined that prolonging the surge will help then why hasn’t there been any long term proposal of how to pay for this put on the table by the president? Where will the troops come from?
The surge is temporary. Where is the long term backing and the financial support and planning that it will take to actually succeed?
Bush has proven to be the master of smoke and mirrors, using fear to push us on. We deserve better.
November 6th, 2007 at 3:20 pmLet’s not forget Turkey is on the verge of invading northern Iraq, Bush is getting ready to use possible Iranian actions in Iraq, as an excuse to invade Iran, Al Qaeda is re-surging in Afghanistan, and Pakistan is ready to implode.
Again I ask, if this is winning, what the HELL is losing!
November 6th, 2007 at 3:22 pm#64 How would you like to be living on this tinder box called the Middle East? And who would you be blaming ? Does America come to mind?
November 6th, 2007 at 3:27 pmBAGHDAD (AP) – In a dramatic turnaround, more than 3,000 Iraqi families driven out of their Baghdad neighborhoods have returned to their homes in the past three months as sectarian violence has dropped, the government said Saturday.
Comment by Exley — November 6, 2007 @ 2:40 pm
Believe me, if I knew this was the first trickle of a tide of the over four million Iraqis who have been displaced by this war coming back to their homes, I’d be the first to be doing a happy dance.
However, this represents less than one-thousandth of the problem (although I admit it’s a start). These Iraqis are most likely “coming home” to places where the ethnic cleansing has stabilized into heavily-fortified sectarian neighborhoods — hardly a condition of normalcy.
It will be interesting to see if this is an isolated stunt or if this is the beginning of a genuine trend.
November 6th, 2007 at 3:29 pm‘The Tide Has Turned In Iraq,’ ‘We Are Winning’ winning??? Really?
November 6th, 2007 at 3:30 pmShouldn’t it be more like ethnic cleansing? No words can describe this horrific deed we have done.
#57. All Lieberman did was remove the mask he’d been wearing all along. I wish all the Democrats did that because most Americans lack the ability to look beyond the masks and see the corporate tools hiding behind them even after the broad hints that they’re being given each and every day. Lieberman is just one more of those hints.
The Democratic Party is NOT the “opposition” Party. It’s just the other face of the same pro-war Corporate Party.
November 6th, 2007 at 3:30 pmGummitch (#58) and Hellinabucket (#63),
I do not completely disagree with either of you. Like the New Republic writer, I am not claiming that everything is hunky-dory in Iraq. Far from it. But the numbers do show dropping levels of violence. That is a trend that needs to sustained with continued military successes, repairs to the infrastructure, and political reconciliation within the national government.
The article Gummitch sent regarding unemployment and skyrocketing rents in the northern part iof Iraq being driven by refugees from the south is undoubtedly true. The question is how best to address that problem….The answer isto continue to drive down the violence in the southern regions of Iraq so that these refugees can return home and begin living their lives again. There are hopeful signs that is starting to happen (See posting # 12).
Defeating the insurgeny also would help in the rebuilding of Iraq’s infrastructure that was destroyed in the Saddam era. Many reconstruction projects undertaken by the US and Coalition have been the target of attacks by Al Qaeda and other insurgents. Why is electric service so sporadic in Iraq? Not because the U.S. hasn’t attempted to restore service, but because insurgents attack electrical plants.
The first step is driving down the violence and stopping AQI and insurgents from disrupting whole regions of the country.
November 6th, 2007 at 3:30 pm“And if we don’t let down our troops…”
As soon as someone employs the “can’t let down the troops” device, I stop reading, and they lose all credibility. If you have a solid argument, you don’t need to use manipulative rhetoric, and when someone employs them they are telling me they have a weak case, or an agenda that they can’t reveal. Not that Leiberman had any credibility to begin with.
November 6th, 2007 at 3:32 pmmsnbc headline from today:
“2007 becomes deadliest yet for U.S. in Iraq”
another headline from today, via a.p.:
“Military may ease standards for recruits”
November 6th, 2007 at 3:32 pm#66- If I’m sitting in the Middle East right now, NOTHING BUT America would come to mind! Sitting here in the states, NOTHING BUT Bush, Cheney, and the rest of the WAR CRIMINALS they are wrapped up with comes to mind! That group, by the way, does include Lieberman!
November 6th, 2007 at 3:33 pmI can’t believe I voted for a Democratic ticket including this war monger.
Comment by stewarjt — November 6, 2007 @ 3:13 pm
Don’t be too hard on yourself. Look at who the alternative was. And I doubt that Gore would have given Lieberman the same power that Bush gave Cheney.
November 6th, 2007 at 3:34 pm“…the rebuilding of Iraq’s infrastructure that was destroyed in the Saddam era.”
so you consider ’shock and awe’ to be ‘Saddam era’?
November 6th, 2007 at 3:35 pm(i guess maybe if you count the rumsfeld connection.)
another headline from today, via a.p.:
“Military may ease standards for recruitsâ€
Comment by cha cha cha — November 6, 2007 @ 3:32 pm
I think eventually the only “standard” the military will have is to require a pulse.
Yet our leaders want to invade other countries, refuse to withdraw troops from the countries we’ve already invaded, and they refuse to reinstate the draft. Go figure.
November 6th, 2007 at 3:35 pmDefeating the insurgeny also would help in the rebuilding of Iraq’s infrastructure that was destroyed in the Saddam era. Many reconstruction projects undertaken by the US and Coalition have been the target of attacks by Al Qaeda and other insurgents. Why is electric service so sporadic in Iraq? Not because the U.S. hasn’t attempted to restore service, but because insurgents attack electrical plants.
The first step is driving down the violence and stopping AQI and insurgents from disrupting whole regions of the country.
Comment by Exley — November 6, 2007 @ 3:30 pm
To some extent, yes, the insurgents are responsible for interfering with the restoration of utilities, but we’re also directly responsible (or irresponsible) for losing funds intended for restoration and for allowing corruption and shoddy workmanship to cause the abandonment of many of these projects. Billions of dollars either lost or wasted with little to show for it.
The Iraqis have been “driving down the violence” in some cases (many?) by exiling or murdering their ethnic foes. It’s scarcely an improvement if killing drops because there are fewer targets for the moment.
November 6th, 2007 at 3:37 pmIsn’t Lieberman using the same tired soundbites we’ve been hearing from Bush and Cheney since 2002?
C’mon Joe — something new, please. And preferably credible.
November 6th, 2007 at 3:37 pmFrom now on his ID should read Lieberman (L-CT), the L standing for Likud, as the right wing world view of Netayahu (sp?) and his ilk guide this idiot.
November 6th, 2007 at 3:38 pmBut the turning tide is turning the corner!
November 6th, 2007 at 3:41 pmWho do you think is more distraught over the remarkable turnaround in Iraq…
The enemies of America or the Democrat Party.
Comment by jdc — November 6, 2007 @ 3:00 pm
You mean by enemies of America the repig party? We know they hate Americans. And the remarkable turnaround in iraq = 2007 deadliest so far for American troops? Wow, you hate the troops that much?
and, for Exley, AQI is exactly the same as the Tooth Fairy. Nonexistent, a figment of the fevered imaginaton of the Bushco propaganda machine. Goebbels would love you.
November 6th, 2007 at 3:44 pmAmericans are silly. We measure ‘winning’ as some passage of some entity, as in a football game. Or a better analogy, online Scrabble, where you win if your opponent runs out of time. Well, we with the four-second attention span will never win by Middle Eastern measurements. They have the capacity to out-wait us for years, then regroup and start the fight again. So, Liebermann with his feeble declaration of ‘winning’ is pathetic in his simplicity and lack of cultural awareness. By the way, who are winning from?
November 6th, 2007 at 3:49 pmif it’s so safe in iraq now why aren’t the media out and about and reporting on it without military escorts? i’m mean if it’s so safe the could just walk the streets right?
November 6th, 2007 at 3:55 pmAn open question to Sen Lieberman: How many MORE times will you hawks declare “Mission Accomplished” before actually showing us proof by bringing the troops home? Even more, just how much longer do you and your fellow hawks intend on scaring voters with the “fight ‘em there so we don’t have to fight ‘em here” canard? If you’ve forgotten, THEY (meaning al-Qaeda–which I’ll come back to in a second) came HERE in the first place. WE didn’t fight THEM there (another point I’ll come back to) yet THEY still came HERE.
November 6th, 2007 at 3:57 pmAs to al-Qaeda, have you simply become senile or have you DELIBERATELY CHOSEN to forget the little fact that Saddam Hussein had NO ties to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda until YOU and your fellow hawks (including your good buddies, George W and Dick Cheney) LIED to the American people by continually linking Saddam and Osama in every single speech that your ilk presented before the illegal invasion? If it’s senility, then resign, Senator. Your judgment is impaired and, in an impaired condition, you cannot effectively serve your constituents. If it’s “forgetting”, then you should still resign since your forgetfulness is becoming detrimental to your abilities to function as a Senator.
As to the “fighting them there” point, Iraq was NOT giving haven to al-Qaeda or any known al-Qaeda linked groups when you hawks decided to invade that country. The IAEA was, at that time, still searching for any factual evidence of a genuine nuclear program in Iraq, but that was insufficient for you and your hawkish allies. Condoleeza Rice, on behalf of the administration (to which you so slavishly adhere), deliberately lied to her real bosses (the American people) when she implied that Saddam had nuclear weapons readied to be launched at the US. You and your hawks relished the prospect of using that falsehood to bolster your own plans. Unfortunately, the reality was that Osama bin Laden was still in hiding somewhere along the very long and porous Afghani-Pakistani border, but you and your fellow hawks no longer cared about bin Laden; he’d become “irrelevant” (that was George W Bush’s OWN word). That’s right. The mastermind behind 9/11 (according to the Bush Administration’s own people) was “irrelevant” but a man who had committed no crimes against the United States had become Public Enemy #1. This is, by no means, intended to suggest that Saddam was an angel (although you and your fellow hawks seem to be under the impression that one cannot be against Saddam if one also opposes your misguided and illegal actions). Saddam was a very bad man, yet a man with a proven nuclear program–in addition to a long-range missile program which could deliver a nuclear warhead–managed to elude any talk of facing an American invasion. But, there were two essential differences. First, Saddam’s nation is a leading OIL producer. Second, Saddam was as opposed to Israel as nearly every other Arab country. Those two reasons proved very irresistible to you and your fellow hawks. Is it merely coincidence that the bulk of supporters of the invasion of Iraq just happen to be Jewish AND fervently pro-Israel? (I’ll leave you to ponder that question.)
Senator, I ask you to please explain why this “totalitarian terrorist Islam” is such a threat to us. We face economic threats from a totalitarian regime (the People’s Republic of China). We have our own home-grown terrorist groups (Timothy McVeigh was most definitely a terrorist as was Eric Rudolph). Our leading foreign supplier of oil is an Islamic state (and, for the record, it’s also essentially as totalitarian as Iraq). What is it about this country that makes us such a target of this “entity” that so frightens you? We’ve heard so many reasons that, in some cases, seem very contradictory. The far right (Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, etc) denounce Muslim countries for their anti-woman attitudes yet their own anti-woman attitudes aren’t that far different. (The Southern Baptist Convention, for instance, not very long ago passed a resolution affirming a supposedly Biblical injunction that women should be submissive to their husbands. What reaction would spew from the far right if a Muslim cleric had made that statement? Yet, the only condemnation of the SBC in this country came from liberals and feminists.) The far right denounces Muslim countries for their anti-gay policies (and have lately started using Iranian anti-gay positions to attempt to gain support from the LGBT community here in efforts to attack Iran) yet the same groups aren’t hesitant in their efforts to denigrate gays and lesbians or to demonize the LGBT community; to the far right, the LGBT community, for that matter, seems completely unworthy of having any rights (unless they’re willing to remain hidden and keep silent). We’re told time and again that these “Islamic terrorists” hate us for our freedoms, yet you and your fellow hawks have done so much to strip our freedoms (warrantless surveillance) that this country is little better than the “Islamic Sharia”-type regime that you and your kind fear will happen to us.
Senator, YOU are the threat to our country. You and your fellow hawks have done so much to harm our liberties and diminish this country’s great heritage as a “land of opportunity”, a country that welcomes diversity, a country that, for so long, represented the great ideals of the Enlightenment that our Founding Fathers so greatly admired and respected. Sir, whatever their differences then, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton are hanging their heads in shame at the travesty that you and your fellow hawks have made of their legacy.
“From now on his ID should read Lieberman (L-CT), the L standing for Likud, as the right wing world view of Netayahu (sp?) and his ilk guide this idiot.”
Well said, now AIPAC and the rest of those type of PACS won’t mind at all if we pull out Iraq, stop threatening Iran and stop all forieng aid to Isreall
Then maybe we can take America back and start helping our own.
AMERICA FIRST!!!!!
November 6th, 2007 at 3:58 pmTo Excly: RE:Thousands Return to Safer Iraqi Capital
Nov 3 02:39 PM US/Eastern
According to the Headline on USA Today (Nov 6) “War displaces 2.3M Iraqis”.
So at the rate of 3000/mo, it’ll only take 63 years to repatriate all those folks!
Oh, I forgot to add that last month, the US admitted 450 Iraqis. That should help too!
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/news-desk/2007/11/1/us-falls-short-of-iraqi-refugee-target.html
November 6th, 2007 at 3:59 pmExley – does the term “ethnic cleansing” mean anything to you?
Allow me to suggest that you look it up. Whole neighborhoods in Baghdad are being ethnically cleansed – so there isn’t anyone left to kill.
I suggest you ask the millions of displaced Iraqi citizens whether or not *they* feel that we’re “winning.”
We’ve made a pathetic mess of that country, installed a feeble and powerless puppet government (that we undermine at every turn by ignoring ANY authority they try to exert), destroyed the infrastructure and the economy – and we call that “LIBERATION.”
Spare me from such liberation!!
November 6th, 2007 at 4:02 pmAlright, thanks for enlightening us Joe!
Now, if you wouldn’t mind getting the message out to the 50,000 or so Iraqis leaving their homes each month, and the other 4+million displaced Iraqi’s, that it’s okay for all of them to just click their heals and pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, that would be great.
You see Joe, they’re the ones who need to believe the tide has turned. They may however want to know if they can expect not to be ethnically cleansed when they return home, and they also may ask you about electricity, clean water, sewage treatment, garbage disposal, cholera outbreaks, militia gangs, rampant and unrelenting government corruption, etc.
But you can handle it, right? Cause the tide has turned!
As Bug’s would say….’Ahh, what a maroon!
November 6th, 2007 at 4:16 pmSo, the surge is a “success” and the “tide has turned”?
the fact is, we went to war in iraq on false pretenses and nothing good has come of it. cheney/bush and many of those in congress are responsible for the death of almost 4000 troops and thousands of innocent civilians. this at a cost to tax payers of hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars, perhaps a TRILLION or 2 when all is said and done! FOR WHAT? Does a “successful surge†or a “turning of the tide†justify the price paid in lives and dollars? The bottom-line is that cheney/bush and the bastards who supported them must be held accountable!
Joe, you are an accomplice to murder!
November 6th, 2007 at 4:20 pmHoly Joe: What kind of hallucinogen are you ingesting now??
November 6th, 2007 at 4:27 pmIn fact, the “surge” has “ebbed” and the tide has become a “tsunami”. Holy Joe is pontificating once again while under the influence of some seriously potent hallucinogen. Lieberman is totally washed up when his term expires.
Lieberman is a disgrace and a total disappointment – which is putting it rather mildly.
November 6th, 2007 at 4:28 pmLividLib: He’s an accomplice to murder by his enabling activities. The Lieberman/Kyle Amendment is tantamount to a tacit approval of murder of more human beings. Didn’t Holy Joe do his number with a like amendment permitting Bush to stomp his way into Iraq? How these ridiculously inept congressmen cannot see what’s going on right under their noses is amazlingly ignorant. What a gang of total fools they’ve become.
With a few exceptions, I don’t think we could have found a more assorted cavalcade of clown-like morons and spineless buffoons on the planet than what we have in Congress today. What a total joke this congress has become.
Time to impeach bring impeachment charges and class action suits by the People against these Congressmen, one by one.
November 6th, 2007 at 4:32 pmlook what the tide brought in.
November 6th, 2007 at 4:32 pmis it some sort of bottom-feeding scavenger?
With a few exceptions, I don’t think we could have found a more assorted cavalcade of clown-like morons and spineless buffoons on the planet than what we have in Congress today. What a total joke this congress has become.
Time to impeach bring impeachment charges and class action suits by the People against these Congressmen, one by one.
Comment by Veritas — November 6, 2007 @ 4:32 pm
You said it!
November 6th, 2007 at 4:35 pmJoe,
I’m sorry, but you just don’t get it, do you?
You see Joe, the average citizen isn’t the same as they were back in 1988 when you were first elected.
Practically everyone has got the internets now, Joe. (Or at least untill your pal’s figure out a way to supress it.)
Anyway Joe, it’s not business as usual, anymore. You can’t just spout the neocon daily talking point and expect everyone to just lap it up. You see Joe, there’s Wikipedia, Youtube, Google, Blogs, and critical, freethinking minds all over the internets now, cross checking everything, it’s great!
You should check it out! You might be surprised to learn it doesn’t matter what Americans, or our troops, think or feel anymore. It’s well past that now.
There are 4+million displaced Iraqis and an additional 50,000 or so monthly who really don’t think the tide is turning!
Why don’t you peddle your daily talking point to them, Joe.
November 6th, 2007 at 4:56 pmI’m certain they’re ready and willing to listen. As long as you can assure them the payoff/protection money being paid to milita gangs not to kill American troops, will continue to be paid to not ethnically cleanse returning Iraqis after our troops leave-well then, problem solved.
Does anyone listen to Joe “Dad from Alf” Lieberman anymore??
November 6th, 2007 at 5:18 pmTRAITOR!!
November 6th, 2007 at 6:36 pmYet another misleading headline from TP.
Comment by TCDon — November 6, 2007 @ 2:49 pm
November 6th, 2007 at 6:56 pmJust curious TC, do you paste this on every thread, or just the few I happen to read?
So, when will whiney Joe be touring Baghdad sans helmet, flak jacket, and military escort?
November 6th, 2007 at 6:57 pmFU(K YOU Joe!!!!!!!
November 6th, 2007 at 7:52 pmComment by questionauthority
I agree with this one.
November 6th, 2007 at 8:53 pmYeah, we keep “turning a corner” in the War In Iraq all right. The trouble is that the angle of the “corners” always seems to be somewhere around 179 degrees — and if they keep turning enough “corners” in the same direction, they might just end up making a circle and find themselves right back where they started…
November 6th, 2007 at 10:17 pmKILLING OVER ONE MILLION INOCENT PEOPLE IS “WINNING”?! What exactly have we won? IRAQ WAS NOT THREATENING US!! SAUDI ARABIA ATTACKED THE UNITED STATES ON 9-11 LIKELY WITH INTELLIGENCE SUPPORT FROM ISRAEL.
November 6th, 2007 at 10:30 pmWhat a SNAFU.
Lieberman is a monster and should not be in our government.
Hm. Joe musta missed this article:
Sadr calls six-month ceasefire to prevent civil war
By Patrick Cockburn
Published: 30 August 2007
The Shia nationalist cleric Muqtada al-Sadr suspended the activities of his powerful Mehdi Army militia for six months yesterday after clashes in the holy city of Kerbala killed 52 people and forced hundreds of thousands of pilgrims to flee.
His spokesman, Sheikh Hazim al-Araji, said in a statement on state television that the aim was to “rehabilitate” the militia, which is currently divided into factions. Significantly, Mr Araji said that the Mehdi Army will no longer make attacks on US and other coalition forces. This may ease the pressure on British troops in Basra, who have come under repeated attack from the Mehdi Army.
The surprise move by Mr Sadr eases fears that escalating battles between Shia militias were turning into an intra-Shia civil war. The Mehdi Army has been battling police and security forces in Kerbala that are largely manned by the Badr Organisation, the military wing of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC).
In the hours before Mr Sadr’s statement there were widespread attacks on SIIC offices in Baghdad and Shia cities in southern Iraq by Mehdi Army militiamen. They accused the SIIC of being behind attacks on pilgrims who were shouting Sadrist slogans. Another spokesman for Mr Sadr, Ahmed al-Shaibani, denied the Mehdi Army was involved in the Kerbala battles…
It was all over the British newspapers. It eventually hit the New York Times. Nobody seems to remember it, though, when they’re looking at the downturn in violence. Very much the opposite of 20/20 hindsight – this would be total hindsight blindness. So much for analysis.
November 7th, 2007 at 3:35 pm> and what their contingency plans are if the
> Iraq debate tacks substantially back the GOP’s way.â€
It won’t. The “best case” scenario for america in iraq is a semi-peaceful, fragmented collection of nation states, the most powerful and influential of which are oil-rich islamic theocracies allied with Iran. If giving Iran and Shia islam in general a new powerful ally in the middle east is the best we can hope for..well..the thing speaks for itself. The idea that there is any possible sequence or confluence of events that would bring about a stable, pro-western, secular jeffersonian democracy in iraq in our lifetimes is exceedingly naive. THere has been close to ZERO support for non-religious parties in iraq, and ZERO movement on “political reconiliation”. Asking “what if things turn out well for the republicans” in iraq is like asking “what if im able to bake a great cake with a tree shredder”?
November 8th, 2007 at 6:01 amThis man is an embarassment to the Democratic party. To think I actually supported him as a candidate for Vice President. Has he lost his mind? We have not made any of our objectives in Iraq except ousting Saddam – everything else went to hell in a handbag. Perhaps Joe’s behavior is indictative of an early onset of dementia.
November 8th, 2007 at 4:11 pmhe’s not a democrat.
November 14th, 2007 at 2:25 pmhe’s a progressive.
November 14th, 2007 at 2:25 pm