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‘President’ Lieberman: A Cautionary TalePosted on Jun 12, 2007
What if Al Gore had won the 2000 presidential election but died in office? Would President Joe Lieberman have been worse than George W. Bush? His recent actions suggest that he could have descended even lower in his illogical and immoral responses to the tragedy of 9/11. Although now an independent, Lieberman provides a cautionary tale for folks who talk of backing “any Democrat” who can win. At a time when even President Bush has recognized the need for negotiations with Iran in order to stabilize Iraq, where disciples of Tehran’s ayatollahs have risen to power, thanks to the U.S. occupation he fervently supports, Lieberman urges war with Iran. “I think we’ve got to be prepared to take aggressive military action against the Iranians to stop them from killing Americans in Iraq,” he told CBS on Sunday, “and to me, that would include a strike over the border into Iran.” He never learns. This is the joker who bought the Ahmad Chalabi line that invading Iraq would result in a pro-West and pro-Israel democracy with Chalabi (who later failed to get 1 percent of the vote) playing Iraq’s George Washington. For five years before 9/11, Lieberman pushed funding for Chalabi’s exile organization to lead the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. Lieberman was also a principal author of the 1998 Iraq Liberation Act, which threw $100 million in Chalabi’s direction.
Even as late as June 2004, when Chalabi was exposed by the United States as a spy for Iran, Lieberman continued to profess admiration for the architect of a policy that replaced the secular despot of Iraq with Shiite fundamentalists trained in Iran. “I met Dr. Chalabi and others of the Iraqi National Congress,” he said in a speech defending Chalabi after U.S. intelligence uncovered his contacts with Iranian spies. “It’s fair to say I found them to be patriotic Iraqis. Their counsel to us was important.”
Bush seems to grasp this reality, which is why the United States is now negotiating with the Iranian ambassador in Baghdad, leaving Lieberman to play the role of a hawkish critic of an administration he apparently feels has lost its enthusiasm for yet another disastrous invasion. This is a man whom leading Democrats, including Bill Clinton, supported in his primary campaign against an intelligent Democrat who sought to end the Iraq nightmare. But, as those “any Democrat is better” apologists will likely argue, Lieberman, as president, would have conducted the occupation in a more measured manner, sensitive to civil liberties and other enlightened concerns. That conceit was also smashed on Monday, when Lieberman voted against holding Attorney General Alberto Gonzales accountable for sabotaging the federal judiciary. At a time when Arlen Specter and six other Republicans voted to advance a no-confidence vote, Lieberman supported the attorney general, who may well be remembered most for his consistent support of torture. No surprise there, given Lieberman’s previous apologies for this administration’s assault on the rule of law. Indeed, even after the revelations of torture at Abu Ghraib, Lieberman was able to find a bright spot, noting that “those who were responsible for killing 3,000 Americans on Sept. 11, 2001, never apologized.” Great. So we are now to be comforted by exceeding the standard set by Osama bin Laden. Lieberman also failed to acknowledge in his statement that the perpetrators of 9/11 had nothing whatsoever to do with Iraq before the invasion. The same can be said for Iran—but that does not quiet Lieberman’s cry for wider war. Previous item: War and Censorship at Wilton High Next item: Science Progresses Despite Politics Elsewhere: . CommentsAre you a Truthdig member yet? Login now, or register with Truthdig.
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By jbloggz, June 19, 2007 at 11:24 am # To see the comments on this low life Lieberman you would think that he is something of stature. He’s not, he’s just another zionista pushing out the same old crap. It wasn’t only Hitler who got rid of jews. Poles got rid of tens of thousands but not in ovens they merely kicked em out. Poland has been better for that, at least Poles run their country. So… what happened that the US loves em so much that they pour billions into the bottomless israeli pit? The Brits gave em nuclear weapons, the US gave em everything else. Just look into the people that control, government, media and much more in the two aforementioned countries. Good trick huh!
By Peter RV, June 18, 2007 at 8:17 am # Ref.#78845 by Michael Shaw I understand your objection to my oversimplifying expressions such as ‘judeo-american’ when talking about those American Jews who are responsible for the mess we are in and who are,BTW, preparing us an even bigger one. Of course, I am aware that not all Jews, and not all Americans, for that matter, are guilty of the abomination we ended up in. I read avidly everything what Finkelstein and Chomsky say (although I certainly do not agree completely with their interpretation of our situation) and I frankly admire Uri Avnery, Gideon Levy and Amira Haas, but these people are themselves under a permanent siege by those Jews who are calling shots in our Country and Israel. Now, am I supposed every time I mention these anthropophags like Lieberman and Co, to recite the politically correct mantra and mention Einstein, for exemple? Besides being boring,it would reflect in a way, an appology to the Jews, which I don’t intend. Jews have to feel sufficient guilt for the existance of this crowd in their midst. I don’t even know if they are a majority in in their community,or not (although they certainly give that chutspah impresion that they are). I call them ‘tribal Jews’ to distinguish them from the others but doubt that would be a better accepted term. If that offends, so let it be. Hour is late and the Tribals’s got this Nation by the balls, worrying about the mannerism is quite out of place, at this moment
By Peter RV, June 17, 2007 at 3:17 pm # Ref.78759 by Robert I never thought of either Hezbollah or Hamas as being terrorist organizations, especially not Hamas. Add Your Comment |
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