Lieberman On Iraq/Middle East: Our Fight Includes Preventing Iranian Domination
In this article Joe Lieberman said: “The Iranians have American blood on their hands.”
and…
“Today’s antiwar politicians have effectively turned John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address on its head, urging Americans to refuse to pay any price, or bear any burden, to assure the survival of liberty.”
Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham co-authored a fantastic opinion piece in today’s Wall Street Journal addressing the advances in Iraq, the upcoming Petraeus report, and preventing Iranian domination of the Middle East. Below are portions of that piece entitled “Iraq and Its Costs”:
When Gen. David Petraeus testifies before Congress tomorrow, he will step into an American political landscape dramatically different from the one he faced when he last spoke on Capitol Hill seven months ago.
This time Gen. Petraeus returns to Washington having led one of the most remarkably successful military operations in American history. His antiwar critics, meanwhile, face a crisis of credibility – having confidently predicted the failure of the surge, and been proven decidedly wrong.
(…)
No one can deny the dramatic improvements in security in Iraq achieved by Gen. Petraeus, the brave troops under his command, and the Iraqi Security Forces. From June 2007 through February 2008, deaths from ethno-sectarian violence in Baghdad have fallen approximately 90%. American casualties have also fallen sharply, down by 70%.
Al Qaeda in Iraq has been swept from its former strongholds in Anbar province and Baghdad. The liberation of these areas was made possible by the surge, which empowered Iraqi Muslims to reject the Islamist extremists who had previously terrorized them into submission. Any time Muslims take up arms against Osama bin Laden, his agents and sympathizers, the world is a safer place.
In the past seven months, the other main argument offered by critics of the Petraeus strategy has also begun to collapse: namely, the alleged lack of Iraqi political progress.
Antiwar forces last September latched onto the Iraqi government’s failure to pass “benchmark” legislation, relentlessly hammering Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as hopelessly sectarian and unwilling to confront Iranian-backed Shiite militias. Here as well, however, the critics in Washington have been proven wrong.
In recent months, the Iraqi government, encouraged by our Ambassador in Iraq, Ryan Crocker, has passed benchmark legislation on such politically difficult issues as de-Baathification, amnesty, the budget and provincial elections. After boycotting the last round of elections, Sunnis now stand ready to vote by the millions in the provincial elections this autumn. The Iraqi economy is growing at a brisk 7% and inflation is down dramatically.
And, in launching the recent offensive in Basra, Mr. Maliki has demonstrated that he has the political will to take on the Shiite militias and criminal gangs, which he recently condemned as “worse than al Qaeda.”
(…)
Most importantly, Iran also continues to wage a vicious and escalating proxy war against the Iraqi government and the U.S. military. The Iranians have American blood on their hands. They are responsible, through the extremist agents they have trained and equipped, for the deaths of hundreds of our men and women in uniform. Increasingly, our fight in Iraq cannot be separated from our larger struggle to prevent the emergence of an Iranian-dominated Middle East.
These continuing threats from Iran and al Qaeda underscore why we believe that decisions about the next steps in Iraq should be determined by the recommendations of Gen. Petraeus, based on conditions on the ground.
It is also why it is imperative to be cautious about the speed and scope of any troop withdrawals in the months ahead, rather than imposing a political timeline for troop withdrawal against the recommendation of our military.
Unable to make the case that the surge has failed, antiwar forces have adopted a new set of talking points, emphasizing the “costs” of our involvement in Iraq, hoping to exploit Americans’ current economic anxieties.
Today’s antiwar politicians have effectively turned John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address on its head, urging Americans to refuse to pay any price, or bear any burden, to assure the survival of liberty. This is wrong. The fact is that America’s prosperity at home and security abroad are bound together. We will not fare well in a world in which al Qaeda and Iran can claim that they have defeated us in Iraq and are ascendant.
(…)
…had we followed the path proposed by antiwar groups and retreated in defeat, the war would have been lost, emboldening and empowering violent jihadists for generations to come.
The success we are now achieving also has consequences far beyond Iraq’s borders in the larger, global struggle against Islamist extremism. Thanks to the surge, Iraq today is looking increasingly like Osama bin Laden’s worst nightmare: an Arab country, in the heart of the Middle East, in which hundreds of thousands of Muslims – both Sunni and Shiite – are rising up and fighting, shoulder to shoulder with American soldiers, against al Qaeda and its hateful ideology.
Read the full Wall Street Journal article by Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham here.
Nods to Steve in NC.
[…] East: Our Fight Includes Preventing Iranian Domination April 7, 2008 — budsimmons https://pat-dollard.com/2008/04/lieberman-on-iraqmiddle-east-our-fight-includes-preventing-iranian-dom… Posted in Iran threat, Iran’s Mullahs, Iranian threat, JOSEPH […]
April 7th, 2008 at 8:08 amJoe ain’t “shoe-less” … and he kicks ass on this.
April 7th, 2008 at 8:12 amNew found respect for Joe, still don’t like his other leanings but I respect him for seeing this.
April 7th, 2008 at 8:29 amI think over the last few years we have a seen the re-birth of senator Joe Lieberman. A very patriotic American who on national security has even told the democrats to piss off.
you know what though, in an America that my grandpa grew up in there would be no need for a General to come in and defend the bravery and success of a war to his own damn countrymen. Congress makes me sick! we should disband them and start over fresh. pull all of the leftist surrender monkeys out and drop them off in the parking lot.
Im just fed up with the reality that there are those who are actively working against this country in a time of war. I think of every soldier,sailor, marine and coast guardsmen being away from family and friends for some times more than a year at a time. dodging bullets, sleeping out in the cold, wearing over 100 pounds of gear in 100 plus degree temperatures while congress sits around thinking of new ways to undermine them. political pawns for their power grab. just disgusting
April 7th, 2008 at 9:08 amJoe Lieberman reminds me of the liberals I used to know, a bit too socialistic on monetary, but still patriotic to their nation.
I also respect him for the fact that he was strong enough to leave his party when it went hard left and began to oppose our sovereignty.
April 7th, 2008 at 9:11 amGood for Lieberman - I’ve told several of my more lefty friends that Kennedy would be a Republican today, and used that speech as the clincher. Suffice it to say that none of them liked to hear it, but I never got a coherent counter-argument out of them. Can you imagine a modern-day democrat leader calling on Americans to “bear any burden” to “make the world safe for democracy”? Oh hell no - they are the me-first, screw-the-rest-of-the-world party. They will bear no burden at all, much less one that serves a higher purpose than their own decadent, self-serving comfort.
April 7th, 2008 at 9:17 am