Greg Sargent makes a great catch regarding Joe's recent meetings with the military in Iraq. Anyone who reads this site knows the content of Lieberman's awful op-ed in the WaPo. Here's the putrid apex of the steaming pile:
After speaking with our military commanders and soldiers there, I strongly believe that additional U.S. troops must be deployed to Baghdad and Anbar province -- an increase that will at last allow us to establish security throughout the Iraqi capital, hold critical central neighborhoods in the city, clamp down on the insurgency and defeat al-Qaeda in that province.
In Baghdad and Ramadi, I found that it was the American colonels, even more than the generals, who were asking for more troops. In both places these soldiers showed a strong commitment to the cause of stopping the extremists. One colonel followed me out of the meeting with our military leaders in Ramadi and said with great emotion, "Sir, I regret that I did not have the chance to speak in the meeting, but I want you to know on behalf of the soldiers in my unit and myself that we believe in why we are fighting here and we want to finish this fight. We know we can win it."
Never mind the fact that the actual quote Lieberman chose to include in his piece said nothing about wanting more troops. Or that, as has also been discussed here and here, less than 40% of respondents in a Military Times Poll support the commander in chief's handling of the war -- and less than 40% also support escalation. No, since our men and women in uniform have a "commitment to the cause of stopping the extremists", it is only logical in Lieberman's mind that they must therefore support the McCain-Lieberman doctrine. Sargent noted how untrue this was, and now provides the proof:
And now some more evidence has surfaced that strongly suggests Lieberman's claim may simply be an outright falsehood.
The evidence is buried at the end of a Washington Post article about GOP division over the possibility of an escalation. It turns out GOP Senator Susan Collins went to the same meeting with these commanders that Lieberman. Here's how she characterizes these meetings to the paper:
[John] Sununu declined to say what he thinks about more troops, but one of his colleagues from the Northeast, Maine's Collins, said she was flatly opposed to the idea after discussing it with commanders and Iraqis during a trip with McCain, Graham and Lieberman.
"I don't think the addition of new American troops in a situation plagued by sectarian strife is the answer," Collins said. "I think more American troops will present more American targets."
This couldn't be clearer. Collins was in on the same discussions with the commanders that Lieberman was. And she emerged from those meetings "flatly opposed" to an escalation.
Yet Lieberman has now twice said that those conversations persuaded him of the rightness of his own call for an increase.
This is a chilling look into the twisted landscape that is the psychology of Joe Lieberman. We all have a little man or woman inside our head that relates the external to the internal. (Some of us have more than one person rattling around inside our skulls). I think Joe Lieberman's little man is a cross between the chickenhawk and the nearsighted Mr. Magoo, seen here walking off of a precipice.
Below the fold is a short play I wrote based on what I imagine the conversations must have been like.
Setting: the William Kristoll ballroom, in the Baghdad Holiday Inn Express.
Dramatis Personnae: A General in dress fatigues (played by R. Lee Emery), Senator Susan Collings (R-ME) (played by Sally Fields), Senator Joe Lieberman (CFL-CT) (played by the guy who voiced Droopy the Dog).
General: Senators, thank you for coming. I'm afraid our military presence in Iraq has done nothing to quell insurgent violence, Al Qaeda is still operating in the villages and we're having a hard time weeding Sadr loyalists out of the Iraqi police and army.
Susan Collins: That's very disheartening, I will relay these findings to my party's leadership.
Joe Lieberman (petting General's buzz cut): Nice doggie! Do you want a treat? I've got a treat for a good boy! How about some more US troops for you to play with?
General: Permission to speak frankly, sir?
Lieberman: You're a good boy, aren't you? Yes you are!
General: Sir, additional troops would only spark further sectarian reprisals and would place more soldiers in harm's way. Escalation will not work.
Lieberman: Excellent news! We start the escalation in two weeks.
Collins (rolls eyes): I can't believe we used to be BFF!
And... here's a bonus Mr. Magoo cartoon, the only real one I could find on youtube.
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