Lieberman Goes Off the Rails
Where did it all go wrong with Joe Lieberman?
Not so long ago, the then-Democratic senator seemed to represent the most mature and worldly strand of his party, especially on foreign policy. Now, his drift to the right seems to accelerate with every passing week and his public pronouncements become ever more bizarre.
The latest example came in an article on the editorial page of Monday’s Wall Street Journal. Of all the multitude of challenges facing the United States, Mr. Lieberman zeroed in on a peculiar target: Damascus International Airport.
The airport, Mr. Lieberman asserted, was “the central hub of al Qaeda travel in the Middle East.” Each month, 60 to 80 suicide bombers were traveling through Syria, he claimed.
He proposed two remedies: that Congress should send “a clear and unambiguous message” to the Syrian government that this “is completely unacceptable and it must stop”; and that “responsible air carriers should be asked to stop flights into Damascus International.”
Such moves, he contended, would help shut “the supply line” to al Qaeda in Iraq.
Given Mr. Lieberman’s belief—and it is a more than justifiable one—in the nefariousness of the Syrian regime, he failed to explain why an expression of displeasure from Congress would bring Damascus into line.
The notion that, in the current fraught climate, American diplomats should prioritize an effort to influence foreign airlines is eccentric at best.
There is a more fundamental problem, however. Mr. Lieberman, who once talked often about the importance of winning hearts and minds in the Middle East, seems to have forgotten such sentiments, replacing them with undiluted muscularity.
He hypothesizes that the key challenge for the U.S. is to choke off the supply of foreign fighters entering Iraq. In fact, an infinitely bigger, more important challenge is finding a way to counteract their desire to do so. Asking British Airways and Air France to tinker with their schedules will make no difference on that question.
Perhaps this latest blast from Mr. Lieberman, odd though it was, should not have come as much of a surprise. In recent months, even as the U.S. armed forces have been stretched taut, the Connecticut senator has been enthusiastic about opening new fronts and exacerbating existing antagonisms.
In June, he announced on Face the Nation that the U.S. should consider a military strike on Iran. “We’ve got to be prepared to take aggressive military action against the Iranians” he told Bob Schieffer, including “a strike over the border.”
The idea that such a strike could be made without further fuelling the conflagration in the region seems closer to outright delusion than mere wishful thinking.
Mr. Lieberman’s most enduring critics would charge that he has often suffered from this delusional tendency. Certainly, he has a record of following up trips to Baghdad with remarkably cheery pronouncements. Back in November 2005, Mr. Lieberman returned from one such trip to report “real progress there.” The savagery of the conflict remained undimmed in the months that followed.
This week’s Wall Street Journal article duly commenced with the observation that “the United States is at last making significant progress against al Qaeda in Iraq.” Added to all that, Mr. Lieberman has shown an increasing tendency to impute dubious motives to Senate colleagues who oppose his view of the war, whilst mixing in odd company himself.
Earlier this year, he incited Republican senator Chuck Hagel to the point of apoplexy during an appearance on Meet the Press.
“I want to do everything I can to win in Iraq,” Mr. Lieberman said. “And I think that’s what my oath of office requires me to do.” Next Page >
The most remarkable thing about Mr. Lieberman’s verbal abuse of our military power is his understanding of the enemy’s will to strike back. In order to hit Syria or Iran successfully one must render them totally ineffective. These ancient and complex cultures, in an event of a US strike would hit back under their own terms. It will not be a shoot out like the one in the western movies where adversaries line up in the main street in plain sight opposite of one another.
Mr. Lieberman reminds me of a once attractive woman now exhibiting menopausal symptoms. His political courier is coming to an end. He is exhibiting hot political flashes combined with mindless convulsions.
The independent Senator has lost his Democratic political base and will not be able to find a republican constituency either. His last chance was to run as an independent. His political sun is slowly setting on the west
Does the good senator think US will be safer after a strike or two against Iran or Syria? Is the good senator willing to Nuke them to submission and have the US for ever be known as the only nation who used atomic weapon without a looming first strike upon it?
Sen.Leiberman is right on with his comments.
The voters are behind him all the way as proven by his Connecticut constituants....Doesn't matter what the party afilliation,he is an American first,like most of us.
Joe is a delutional putz who was put out to pasture by the good and clear thinking citizens of the State of Connecticut only to put his overwheening and hubristic ego on an independent ticket wholehearted supported by the Replublican slime machine. Nice going Joe, how many soldiers have died or are maimed for life because of your ego, if you had any balls at all you would resign from the Senate post haste. Sleep well.
Joe Lieberman is one of the last of the patriotic Democrats. He understands that we are at war with an atavistic death cult so savage it is beyond the understanding of the modern secular "progressive." This mindset believes in no God so it ignores the danger from absolute religious fanaticism, except when it sees such fanaticism coming from American Christians. They are seen as a greater threat than muslim fanatics who killed 3,000 New Yorkers, would have been very happy to have killed 50,000 and look forward to the day when their victims will number in the millions. The hysterical railing against Sen. Lieberman is but a symptom of the further decline of a once great political party and an intelligentsia degenerated into nihilism. These people actually believe that this insanity is a political advantage for themselves. They're in for a shock not felt since the McGovernite led land-slide defeat of 1972. If that doesn't bring them to their senses they are over as a viable political force.
Mr. Libermans' strange pronouncements become clear when one realizes that he is apparently more pro-Israel than pro-United States. Having intense interest in the prosperity of a foreign country is fine as long as it doesn't interfere with senatorial duty to put America and its citizens first and foremost. He has betrayed his position by forgetting his constituents' needs in favor of dabbling in neocon delusions and should be recalled.
Sometimes the fate two nations is inextricably bound together. Who would say that President Roosevelt cared more for England than he did for the United States? Senator Lieberman was reelected as an independent after being run out of his own party and even after this kind of vilification by the mad dog extremist faction of the Democrat Party. The people of Connecticut knew Senator Lieberman. They knew his position. It was the predominant issue in the campaign. They knew what they were voting for. And they knew what they were voting against. They knew Lamont's position (yours) and they
rejected
it. This foaming-at-the-mouth, rabid denial of the will of the voters brands those who espouse it. Even if a U.S. Senator could be recalled, it wouldn't happen. It was tried in an election and failed. Live with it.
There are many real goofballs in the Senate and House, just look at Pelosi and Reid, who happen to head the Democratic Party. Lieberman is a man of principal who stood against a party hack--Ned Lamont--caving in to the anti-war sentimentality preached by the Democrats, no matter how much Havoc will result by leaving the Middle East to barbaric terrorists and the Islamo-fascist regime in Teheran. Soon, our Cities will be in ruin, we will be praying on carpets, our children will be without heads and we will be prosecuted by the local mullahs for having an unislamic haircut.
Lieberman's comment about the Damascus airport is only off the point if you are a rampant appeaser. We need spine. We have too many newspaper wimps running around spewing weakness and shooting spitballs at those who stand tall for the ideals of this country, and against the pandering hacks who want to lead us because the war isn't bisquick and soda pop.
There are many real goofballs in the Senate and House, just look at Pelosi and Reid, who happen to head the Democratic Party. Lieberman is a man of principal who stood against a party hack--Ned Lamont--caving in to the anti-war sentimentality preached by the Democrats, no matter how much Havoc will result by leaving the Middle East to barbaric terrorists and the Islamo-fascist regime in Teheran. Soon, our Cities will be in ruin, we will be praying on carpets, our children will be without heads and we will be prosecuted by the local mullahs for having an unislamic haircut.
Lieberman's comment about the Damascus airport is only off the point if you are a rampant appeaser. We need spine. We have too many newspaper wimps running around spewing weakness and shooting spitballs at those who stand tall for the ideals of this country, and against the pandering hacks who want to lead us because the war isn't bisquick and soda pop.
"He hypothesizes that the key challenge for the U.S. is to choke off the supply of foreign fighters entering Iraq. In fact, an infinitely bigger, more important challenge is finding a way to counteract their desire to do so. Asking British Airways and Air France to tinker with their schedules will make no difference on that question."
How exactly do you propose convincing a group of religious psychotics bent on the destruction of all non-Muslim nations, cultures, and religions to stop?
It seems that the more expedient approach would be to choke off their supply chain. Please extend my sincere apologies to the airlines for this terrible inconvenience!
I just wanted to thank ArchiesBoy for realizing and stating what seems so obvious to me as well: Joe Lieberman is advancing the foreign policy of Israel and the U.S. be damned. Once you acknowlege this, the rest of his actions make perfect sense.