Lieberman: One Democrat Head and Shoulders Above the Rest

Lieberman: Failure in Iraq would be 'catastrophic'

Wednesday, November 23, 2005 Posted: 1804 GMT (0204 HKT)

BAGHDAD (CNN) -- Speaking from Baghdad on his fourth trip to Iraq since July, Sen. Joseph Lieberman on Wednesday said failure in Iraq would be "catastrophic" for the United States and the entire Middle East, and that U.S. forces should not pull out before Iraqi forces are fully trained.

"The two extremes that are often described by different people here ... is that everything is going fantastic here in Iraq or that the country is about to collapse. In my opinion, neither one is true," he told CNN. "We are somewhere in between."

Lieberman, a senior Democrat from Connecticut, said Iraqis are striving to "put the nightmare of Saddam Hussein behind them," but still need U.S. help.

"They are making progress, but they are not where they need to be yet and that's what we have to help them to do before we can leave," he said.

"The cost of successfully completing our mission here will be large in terms of American lives lost and money spent, but the cost of failure here would be catastrophic for us in the U.S. and for the Iraqis, of course -- and I believe for the entire Middle East.

"And that's why we are going to continue to be here until we get to the point where the Iraqis can take it forward on their own, and I think we are making progress in that direction."

Lieberman's comments come amid rising calls from prominent Democrats for the United States to set a timetable for bringing U.S. troops home -- proposals the Bush administration and congressional Republicans have dismissed as a "cut-and-run" strategy that would embolden Iraqi insurgents.

This story is hard to find in the MSM. Seems they prefer Murtha to Lieberman. Objective Press? I don't think so. They demonstrate their bias everyday with every story. Lieberman is a man in the midst of a zoo. He's surrounded by "'rats," weasels, snakes, and all sorts of vermin infecting his party. I am proud of him for daring to speak the truth rather than hewing to the party line. Pelosi, Reid, Kennedy (the Killer), Durbin and the rest must be choking on their food pellets.

Full Story: Lieberman, Only Truthful Democrat in Congress?

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