4/26/07

Lieberman sinks lower

In today's Washington Post, Sen. Joe Lieberman has written an op-ed so egregious that it prompted Garance Franke-Ruta to ask: "Did Joe Lieberman just call the Democratic leadership pawns of al-Qaeda?"

First Lieberman goes all John McCain on us and tries to paint Iraq in an absurdly optimistic light.

In the two months since Petraeus took command, the United States and its Iraqi allies have made encouraging progress on two problems that once seemed intractable: tamping down the Shiite-led sectarian violence that paralyzed Baghdad until recently and consolidating support from Iraqi Sunnis -- particularly in Anbar, a province dismissed just a few months ago as hopelessly mired in insurgency.

Of course this conflicts with virtually all other accounts, including that of former Iraqi prime minister Iyad Allawi, who is saying that the "surge" may be a waste of time.

Later in Lieberman's op-ed, he goes all Joe McCarthy (or is it Dick Cheney) on us.

When politicians here declare that Iraq is "lost" in reaction to al-Qaeda's terrorist attacks and demand timetables for withdrawal, they are doing exactly what al-Qaeda hopes they will do, although I know that is not their intent.