Over at My Left Nutmeg they have Lieberman shooting off from the hip again.
Q. There was a big flap yesterday about some comments made by Harry Reid concerning Gen. Petraeus, and the outgoing Peter Pace, saying
they were incompetent, basically. Is that useful, and do you know that to be true or not… It’s generally being reported in a lot of places.LIEBERMAN: I don’t know what Harry Reid is up to. I was very upset, even offended, by what he said about General Pace and General Petraeus. Look, you call General Pace incompetent? That’s abs – this
is a man who has devoted his entire life to the Marine corps, the service of our country, defense of our country.Q. Why is he doing this? Why is Reid doing this?
LIEBERMAN: I have no idea. Then to say that Petraeus is out of touch? I mean, *Harry Reid* in Washington says *David Petraeus*, who’s in
Baghdad, away from his family, heroically trying to rally our forces and succeed over in Iraq… that *he’s* out of touch? I mean, it’s just – the danger here – my colleagues who have been opposed to the war have said “we’re opposed to the war, but we support our troops.”But when you start to attack the top two generals, you know, that’s…that’s wrong. I hope he apologizes, I just hope he misstated…
You can make an argument that Dick Cheney has devoted his life to public service. Sure, he spent a good chunk of the nineties working for Halliburton, but he spent most of his career in government. It doesn’t mean that we should be grateful and it doesn’t mean that he is competent.
I’m grateful to Gen. Peter Pace for his service to his country. But I don’t think he has been competent and neither does the Senate. The reason he is ‘retiring’ is because he wouldn’t have been confirmed for another term as head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. If the White House can lie and blame USA attorneys for incompetence to explain why the were fired, certainly Harry Reid should be able to tell the truth and say incompetence is the reason Peter Pace has been fired. No?
Well, not if you are Joe Lieberman.
I don’t know exactly what Harry Reid meant when he said that Gen. Petraeus is ‘out of touch’. And without knowing, I’m inclined to forego passing judgment. Not so, Joe Lieberman. He seems to take great pleasure in slamming the Democrats.
Let’s take a closer look at Joe Lieberman.
Speaking to reporters after an appearance at a rally supporting jet engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney’s competition for a military contract, Lieberman said U.S. diplomatic efforts [with Iran] are important, but military action also must be an option.
I’m sure Pratt & Whitney agrees.
“If we don’t figure out first through diplomacy and, if necessary, through limited military action how to stop the Iranians from killing Americans and our Arab allies today it’s going to be impossible for us to do what everybody in both parties and all ideologies say we have to do tomorrow, which is to stop them from getting nuclear weapons,” he said.
“Iran has effectively begun to carry out military action against American soldiers and a lot of our allies in the Arab world and if we just sit back they’re going to continue to move forward,” he said. “They’re going to take it as a sign of weakness.”
Who are these Arab allies that Iranians are killing? Sunni mosque bombing insurgents? Al-Qaeda? Who?
Lieberman will pretty much say anything to demonize Iran and make it easier for the administration to start some kind of military action against them. That might help Pratt & Whitney sell some jet engines. Hell, this rhetoric might help Pratt & Whitney get the contract in the first place. But it is totally irresponsible. Does anyone still wonder why we wanted Ned Lamont for Senate in Connecticut?