“I appeal to my colleagues in Congress to step back and think carefully about what to do next.”
In today’s Wall St. Journal, Senator Joe Lieberman makes a compelling case for Democrats to end the politicization of the war-something we at Pundit Review have done along with millions of Americans have been arguing for a long time.
He says in essence that we must unify as a nation behind Gen. Petraeus, his strategy, and the entire mission at this very critical juncture in the war in Iraq.
But the fact is that we are in a different place in Iraq today from even just a month ago–with a new strategy, a new commander, and more troops on the ground. We are now in a stronger position to ensure basic security–and with that, we are in a stronger position to marginalize the extremists and strengthen the moderates; a stronger position to foster the economic activity that will drain the insurgency and militias of public support; and a stronger position to press the Iraqi government to make the tough decisions that everyone acknowledges are necessary for progress.
In regard to the Defeaticrats who can’t wait to declare deffeat in Iraq as they did in Vietnam, Senator Lieberman has this to say,
There is of course a direct and straightforward way that Congress could end the war, consistent with its authority under the Constitution: by cutting off funds. Yet this option is not being proposed. Critics of the war instead are planning to constrain and squeeze the current strategy and troops by a thousand cuts and conditions…
..In fact, halting the current security operation at midpoint, as virtually all of the congressional proposals seek to do, would have devastating consequences. It would put thousands of American troops already deployed in the heart of Baghdad in even greater danger–forced to choose between trying to hold their position without the required reinforcements or, more likely, abandoning them outright. A precipitous pullout would leave a gaping security vacuum in its wake, which terrorists, insurgents, militias and Iran would rush to fill–probably resulting in a spiral of ethnic cleansing and slaughter on a scale as yet unseen in Iraq.
Unlike, his ex-Democrat collegues in the Senate, Lieberman can see beyond “stage one” in that he acknowledges that “startegic redeplyment” (i.e. cutting and running and declaring defeat) would have terrible consequences. He doesn’t say it, but pulling out prior to the completion of our mission in Iraq would almost definately mean “redeployment” of our troops in an even more dangerous situation. But the Donkeys just can’t seem to understand that defeat in Iraq means defeat for the U.S. and our allies around the world. This is why Americans don’t trust them with national security.
Senator Lieberman ends with this:
I appeal to my colleagues in Congress to step back and think carefully about what to do next. Instead of undermining Gen. Petraeus before he has been in Iraq for even a month, let us give him and his troops the time and support they need to succeed…
..We are at a critical moment in Iraq–at the beginning of a key battle, in the midst of a war that is irretrievably bound up in an even bigger, global struggle against the totalitarian ideology of radical Islamism. However tired, however frustrated, however angry we may feel, we must remember that our forces in Iraq carry America’s cause–the cause of freedom–which we abandon at our peril.
Pelosi talked about how the Dems would usher in a new era of bipartisanship. Let’s see just how serious they are- especially at this crucial point in time in Iraq.