Lieberman, Graham take a misguided victory lap
By Steve Benen Monday Apr 07, 2008 7:20pm
In anticipation of Gen. David Petraeus’ congressional testimony, which begins today, Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) boasted in a Wall Street Journal op-ed today about how right they think they are. Indeed, Lieberman and Graham, two of the less restrained cheerleaders of the Bush policy in Iraq, appear comfortable taking a victory lap, convinced of their own rectitude.
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%.
Those are, to be sure, encouraging numbers, but as Think Progress noted, Lieberman and Graham conveniently skipped over numbers from March 2008 — which they had access to, but chose to ignore. That’s because Iraqi deaths and civilian casualties saw a significant increase in March, a point the pro-war senators no doubt found inconvenient.
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.
I assume Lieberman and Graham realize the Awakening began months before the surge, but they found this fact inconvenient, too.
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.
I’d really hoped we were past this.
That the surge policy has not produced the political progress promised is so obvious, it’s hardly worth emphasizing anymore. Indeed, perhaps Lieberman and Graham missed this report from the weekend: “A new assessment of U.S. policy in Iraq by the same experts who advised the original Iraq Study Group concludes that political progress is ’so slow, halting and superficial’ and political fragmentation ’so pronounced’ that the United States is no closer to being able to leave Iraq than it was a year ago.”
[I]n 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.”
First, Basra was a failure for Maliki. Second, Lieberman and Graham still want to make the events of two weeks ago about good vs. bad; they were far more complex than that.
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.
Is that what Lieberman and Graham think we’re doing in Iraq? Assuring the “survival of liberty”? One wonders if they actually believe such nonsense, or if they’re counting on the rest of us to be so foolish as to buy this drivel.
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.
First, I don’t know what country Lieberman and Graham are watching, but if they see Sunnis, Shi’ia, and Americans fighting “shoulder to shoulder,” they probably need to start laying off the hallucinogens.
Second, far from bin Laden’s “nightmare,” the terrorist leader has actually said that al-Qaeda’s strategy “is to cripple the U.S. economy by dragging us into quagmires abroad…. A smallish number of people with no base of resources can’t possibly defeat us unless we shoot ourselves in the foot repeatedly as Bush and McCain propose.”
Lieberman and Graham, for some reason, seem anxious to help.
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The three "blind" senators.
The only data needed to judge 'Victory' or success of the 'Surge' is less US troops in Iraq, I am surprised the Democrats don't present that as the prime measurement of success.
Just look at them sitting there. I just got the heebee-jeebees. They remind of of the League of Doom. They would fit right in.
C'mon .. WAR IS GOOD ..
Where's the caption that goes above the picture? You know the one that reads,"We really, really want to bomb Iran."
What kind of minds lurk within those three apparently human forms? I'm betting pretty ugly and frightening ones.
The three little war piggies leading us right into bin Laden's hands.
Like I said. It gives me the heebee-jeebees.
[deleted--do not spam the threads with conspiracy theories. Please limit your comments to the actual topic.]
Al @ 2:
All the Dems seem to know how to do is "yak, yak, yak, yak" and a couple "I told you so's" followed by umpteen billions of excuses why they can't even tie their own shoelaces.
Damn nony, you type fast!
this picture of these thress assholes, looks like the seats
in a doomed airliner, maybe oceanic 811.
These are three bad people, who insist on telling lies so that they don't have to admit to themselves that they are lying, bad people. Their passing will be mourned only by those who cannot see what hollow men, or stuffed men, they chose to become.
Curly, Larry and Moe.
just a preview of your next president ! vice president! secratary of war!!!!!!!!! enjoy the reality!
P.D. @ 3:
almost holding hands too
Ruthless Peolple, At least the Larry, Moe and Curly were entertaining. These guys are about as fun as the plague.
At this point, what does it matter? Withdrawal is completely off the table. We're not going to leave. So, we're either going to "achieve victory" or we are going to sink...and sink...and sink...and sink...
The "surge" has worked. It has done its job. That is, it has rendered now in stone the "victory or defeat" narrative. It has made permanent the policy of basing strategy on wishful thinking, best hopes and rosy scenarios. It has pushed every viable option off the table to the point where the only thing people can seem to find time to talk about is bowling scores and decade-old tales of high adventure in Bosnia.
If these guys were running the Titanic, they'd be telling us "flooding has significantly slowed" now that the deck is below water and "we should see good progress in a few hours."
And it's not like The American People(tm) are buying it. We may all be sitting on our couches waiting for Britney to explode, but our leaders have made it clear that our voices count for jack and shit...and jack just left town.
"So?"
Yeah ferrofluid, I can see them now holding hands and jumping up and down at the thought of going after Iran. Perish the thought.
Sad sacks.
It looks like a Golden Girls reunion without Blanche.
If McCain picks Lieberman as VP we know what to expect, war with Iran in a year.
Together they embody the monkeys Mizaru, Kikazaru and Iwazaru, but only in reverse. See evil, hear evil and speak evil. If these three represent the future face of America, I'll pass.
P.D. @ 22:
So you expect bomb bomb mc cain to win in the general election? Are we (americans) that stupid to vote for 4 more years of junior bush ?
ben @ 24:
yes and with the help of electronics all things are possible!
Ben, I could swear that Kerry was going to win in 2004. But the Sheeple proved me wrong. After Kerry lost I lost a lot of faith in my fellow Americans. Maybe I'll have hope this year.
2 old men and a spinster. Graham is a big ole queen.
tyree @ 25:
so should I stay home on election day and not go cast my vote ?
ben @ 27:
Funny but true. Just wish he had balls enough to come out of the closet.
Ben, by all means vote! I just hope Ameicans are smarter this time around.
{{{P.D. @ 22}}}:
If McCain picks Lieberman as VP we know what to expect, war with Iran in a year.
So you expect bomb bomb mc cain to win in the general election? Are we (americans) that stupid to vote for 4 more years of junior bush ?
========================================================
Um... yes.
I agree with Edwin, Americans have the attention span of gnats. Between celebrity news and our own ignorance, we pretty much screwed ourselves.
ben @ 28:
Only if McCain pulls out his super-duper hacker skills.
Because you know he's got to be great with computers.
ben @ 28:
do what you want to do then come home scratch your ass and open a beer!
tyree @ 34:
Jock Itch?
ohhhhh, the agony.
[ok,back on topic....Site Monitor]
The three stooges.
My head spins after this day.
What a freaking waste.
This is more of the same shit. If the MSM were doing their job, they would be telling them the truth. Anyone that can read (and get off their ass to find the truth) knows that Anbar was turning around before Petraeus set foot in Iraq. They would also know that Saudi money was flowing into the Sunni areas buying off the warlords and arming them many months before Petraeus got there. Petraeus saw this and put his name on it. Again, the American people should be told the truth. This should be the topic of discussion. This may be worth trying but there may be unintended consequences, really bad ones. At the same time they are arming the Sunni militia they are insisting the Shiites disarm? They (Sunni militia) already nearly outnumber the regular Iraqi army. This smells like a military coup to me. This could turn out really bloody. We know that the US admin hates that the Shiites are in power. This would solve so many problems for the US. And a Sunni leadership outnumbered would invite the US to stay and protect their position. And the hydrocarbon legislation that is so important to Cheney (to sign over more than 80% of the Iraqi oil to US and British oil companies) would fall into their hands. And permanent military bases for operations against Iran, something that the Shiites most likely not go along with (as well as the hydrocarbon deal).
The war is in their hands. How could anything possibly go wrong?
I have to say this: Lindsey Graham talks and reminds me of Mr. Rogers. I liked Mr. Rogers. Lindsey Graham is NO Mr. Rogers.
Looks like two old geezers (with fat wallets) who just walked into a gay strip club getting sized up by a junkie stripper...
Ruthless People @ 38:
That's funny. And we have turned so many corners in our war of occupation that anyone paying attention would know we are going in circles.
P.D. @ 26:
no the voter fraud by the gop won the election in 2004
A very scary thought just occurred to me:
President McCain appoints Joe Lieberman as his Secretary of State.
It could happen. Be afraid, be very afraid.
P.D. @ 32:
I don't think that's true, news has become entertainment not because we demanded it but because its now owned by the Corporations who want to distract us while they steal us blind. Many people go out of their way on the internet searching for news and reading Noam Chomsky and Norman Mailer and the like. It's easy for them to say they don't report the story because we don't want the story but that is bullshit. Everyone I know is tired of the game, FOX news started it now its spread like a fucking virius. That's why most youth get their news from John Stewart and Stephen Colbert. So many reports just get regurgiated without the facts being checked from one news cast to the next. Which is why it was so easy for Sean Hannity to take a 20 second clip of Rev. Wright and not include his whole sermon, or the fact that the most of what he was saying was a direct quote from former Ambassador Peck.
The Rat Pack
That's because the ethnic cleansing has been mostly completed; there aren't many left to kill. And so, of course, we take credit for the drop in violence. The parade of idiocy and atrocity continues...
Pendejos
The three geriatric amigos. Looks like an ad for Bel Tone, Depends and Preperation H.
Guess which one is the REAL pain in the ass?
(Times up, they ALL ARE)
Every time I turn on cable news I hear: "Do you think McCain is getting a pass from the news Media?"
And everyone is answering in the affirmative: "Why, yes, I think he is."
No reporter is taking the time to examine WHY McCain is SO WRONG.
No reporter is calling this "CHERRY-PICKING THE INTELLIGENCE," which it is.
JasonS at 18 (above) is right on the money: We're all on The Titanic... and they're telling us that the flooding is beginning to slow. What they are not telling us is that THE SINKING has already started.
The US hates the Shiites. There will be a military coup. They are arming and preparing the Sunni militia (which nearly outnumber the Iraqi army). We will take more than 80% of the Iraqi Oil and have permanent bases in Iraq to assult Iran. Really dosn't matter who is the president.
You're right FreedomFighter, but the fact is you HAVE to go on the internet and other sources, and many people don't bother. They just watch Faux News and swallow the tripe that is being feed to them.
Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)
anything out of velvet ears is a joke ! Hes the dog that was spanked to many times, ran away and found a new family where hes happy doing tricks for scraps of food from his new ´´masters´´ table.
Hey Lindsey , Guess what,, We cleaned your clock , and its going to happen again soon .
Step away from the closet door, Your time is coming !!
P.D. @ 30:
Yes,I am gonna vote. I was just asking tyree@25 what he wants me to do with my vote,since he is so sure that bomb bomb mc cain will win with the help of electronics. BTW americans are not smarter than 2000 or 2004..we are still a bunch retards that will vote for the guy we would want to have a beer with instead of a more qualified one .We want to know about a candidate religion,his/her stand on abortion,race,gender. We still think we are number one..
And with that I like to thank the blog owner and the comments as well.
Thank you all and have a good night and a even better tomorow.
Regards,,,
:)
Mo, Larry and Curly
Lindsay shore is lookin' kinda purdy.
*shudder*
That shot is awesome. These stooges look completely bewildered.
I am looking forward their day of reckoning.
ben @ 24:
Charlie Black...McCain "adviser" and lobbyist for United Technologies...which is succeeding in a hostile takeover of DIEBOLD...which controls 80% of all touchscreen voting machines...which will be used in the November election...Is anyone beginning to see a picture here?
We may not be stupid enough to vote for McCain, but apparently we ARE stupid enough to let a private corporation with direct links to McCain count the freakin' votes!
Doh!
BTW, I heard on NPR this afternoon that Sadr has "cancelled the big demonstration" in Iraq for tomorrow....
Hmmmm.
LIEberman, Graham and McCain, taking a victory 'Nap'!
Does Lieberman remind anyone else of Senator Palpatine/Darth Sidious from Star Wars? Hmmmmmmmmm.
Crow @ 60:
absolutely. not as much as lord rothschild does though.
the globalists are drooling over the prospect of a mccain / lieberman ticket. don't expect mccain to last real long if he wins. heart attack by cia ice gun, overt assasination, or death by natural causes. it won't matter.
fortunately, mccain won't win.
all you have to do is keep asking him, "what could be more treasonous than covering up the truth about the attack on the u.s.s liberty?
then, keep asking him about his old man's role in the cover-up. you will litereally see red steam spewing from the old coot's ears.
*treasonous
Crow @ 60:
Why yes he does remind me of Emperor Porcupine. Using the farce, kook.
I'm reminded of the gunfight at the "OK" corral. Pretty gruesome while the shooting was going on. Pretty peaceful when there was no one left to fight.
Joe, if you want to encourage Americans to do something for their country, you can enlist, too.
Ruthless People @ 14:
Curly, Larry and Moe had NO idea where Iran was (or, Iraq..), and, certainly wouldn't want to bomb ME. They were also more intelligent and better looking than this DEPENDS TRIO.
ConcernedCanuck @ 10:
Kongre$$ Dems are a bunch of TRAITORS (raping our Constitution esp. when quiet on the front) - just as the republicunts.
""Congress surrendered its authority by its own hand,” ..... “Abdication of responsibility is not part of the constitutional design."..
Power to Build Border Fence Is Above U.S. Law
By ADAM LIPTAK
Published: April 8, 2008
Securing the nation’s borders is so important, Congress says, that Michael Chertoff, the homeland security secretary, must have the power to ignore any laws that stand in the way of building a border fence. Any laws at all.
.......
The groups said Congress cannot hand over unbridled power to the executive branch even as it cuts the courts out of the picture. They relied mostly on a 1998 Supreme Court decision striking down the Line Item Veto Act, which had allowed the president to cancel parts of laws.
................
In addition to forbidding judges from second-guessing Mr. Chertoff’s decisions, Congress forbade federal appeals courts from becoming involved at all. After losing before Judge Huvelle, the groups’ only recourse is to hope the Supreme Court decides to hear their appeal.
.........
Justice Department lawyers told Judge Huvelle that the urgency of border security must trump other interests. They added that Congress may delegate particularly broad powers in the areas of national security, foreign affairs and immigration because the Constitution gives the executive branch great authority in those areas.
................
It is true, of course, that Congress gave up its powers here voluntarily. But Justice Anthony M. Kennedy had a response to that point in his concurrence in the line-item-veto case.
“It is no answer, of course, to say that Congress surrendered its authority by its own hand,” he wrote. “Abdication of responsibility is not part of the constitutional design.”
Justice Kennedy made a broader point, too, one perhaps more apt today than it was 10 years ago.
“Separation of powers was designed to implement a fundamental insight,” he wrote. “Concentration of power in the hands of a single branch is a threat to liberty.”
Freaking warmongers destined for hell.
Ladies and gentlemen , meet the three stooges . Lets give these clowns a hand !
MOE, LARRY CURLY...
sorry...MOE, LARRY AND SHEMP!!!
P.D. @ 3:
more like the league of jowls
I can't say what LIEberman reminds me of here. It could only bring disturbing images to mind for fellow posters and that would be unkind.
*
Reminds me of a old western i saw once, The Goon,The gay, and The Gutless. Staring john mccain as "the goon" ,pasty white killer who lived for war, longed for power!---Co-staring joe lie-ber- man as " The Gutless", Two- faced yellow skunk who would sink to any depths for his own personal gain! And introducing Lin-seed Ga-Ham as "The Gay", His lack of honesty far over-reaching his height and bravery. Watch as these soul-less pussys trample on laws and peoples rights, Watch as they spew out the the imporant reasons that our kids need to go kill people! Watch as the pain of not being able to go themselves is reveiled in their eyes. Feel their heartbreak as they are forced to take bribe money, so the country can be safe. Fall in love with them as they tearfully look into our eyes and lie their dicks off. Laugh with joy and happyness as they lead our country into an atomic world war . Share in the suspence as we wonder if we will survive! Don't miss it, coming to your town soon!
hear no failure, see no failure, speak no failure...or
dumb, dumb and dumber.
looser, looser, looser.
simp, wimp and dork.
is lindsay wiping the stain from the ass kissing he gave the general ?
Manny, Moe and Jack('em Off)...
I saw those three in front of the 7-11 this morning, drool on their chins, begging for change.
Take a good look at the photo here...should McCain ascend it will be the CORE of his administration...let's just throw in Rice too and for all of those who vomited throughout the past 8 years we can just keep our heads over the "bowl"!!!!
Lieberman, Graham take a misguided victory lap
I'd druther have a lap dance.
Good God, but Lieberquisling is a disgusting little toad.
John, Joe and Lindsey: Three stooges in suits.
Trio of Butt Monkeys.
Let's see - they told us in 2004 that we were making great progress and victory was in sight. Then again in 2005, 2006, 2007, and now in 2008. Same story each year, and each time they say it's for real - but it never works out that way. Can anyone possibly believe anything these idiots say?
That photo is classic! Larry, Curly, and Moe...oops, no, that's actually Linsie Glam on the end. I don't think any of the Stooges were closet fags.
AHHH...look.....Cheney and Bush's most favorite little butt pirates sitting in a row. Isn't that just cute?
Rinse, Lather, Repeat..
The Three Stooges of Bush's war.
echo @ 56:
I can't help but wonder if Graham is gay. He's so effeminate.
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