DLC supports Lieberman Iraq War statement on their website

[yurbud]

Statement of Al From on Senator Joe Lieberman

There's currently an orchestrated effort underway to make Sen. Joe Lieberman into some sort of a pariah because of his views on the Iraq War. That's wrong. Republicans may try to impose strict litmus tests, but an inclusive Democratic Party should not.

There's plenty of room for debate on how to succeed in Iraq and in the war on terror. We should be a party that leads that debate, not stifles it.

Joe Lieberman is a man of utmost integrity who speaks and governs by his values and principles, even when they lead him against the popular tide. He is a man who always puts his county above his party or his personal interests. Those are qualities we should cherish, not disdain, in today's far too polarized politics.

We need more, not fewer, people with Joe Lieberman's character in the Democratic Party, and I'm proud to call him my friend.

http://www.dlc.org/

I agree with part of what From said: there should be room for debate and differing opinions provided that opinion is based on facts. I don't know if Jack Murtha's proposal is the best way to get out, but he at least acknowledges reality and cited facts most in Congress and White House run away from like spiders.

Lieberman's statement did not qualify since it was not based on facts but pollyanna talking points.

I would respect any call to stay there that acknowledges some crucial facts:

• 80% or more of Iraqis want us to leave.
  
  
• The world's oil supply has either peaked or is about to, and as it declines, the Middle East will be the last region sucked dry. Those who supported the war thought controlling that oil was important for continued US access and our national security as Colin Powell's chief of staff Col. Wilkerson recently said.
  
  Neocons have gone further and said that being in control of the oil spigot gives us an effective veto over the growth of other countries including potential rivals like China.
  
  Oil companies probably wanted Iraq's oil for crasser reasons: stocks are low elsewhere so they need the product, and Iraq's oil will grow exponentially in value as other countries oil reserves dry up. Recent price gouging by oil companies shows how much they care about the rest of us.
  
  
• Even Iyad Allawi, the thug who used to be an enforcer for Saddam that Bush appointed prime minister of the provisional government recently said the human rights situation in Iraq is at least as bad now as it was under Saddam.
  
  
• At the recent Cairo Conference on Iraq, the Iraqi participants from all factions agreed that while insurgent attacks on civilians were wrong, those on occupation forces are not.
  
  
• We restructured the oil industry in Iraq to make it easier for the oil companies to screw Iraqis out of the income from their oil, and easier for Kurdish and Shi'ite provinces to screw Sunnis out of any oil income. Do you think that might piss people off enough to grab a gun?
  
  
• Israelis and Saudis separately studied our interrogations of foreign fighters captured in Iraq and found that most had no prior connection to al Qaeda and were motivated by our invasion, not religious fundamentalism.
  
  
  
• The Iraqis are not apes who just descended from the trees, and can't figure out how to put a military and police force together. Bush fired all the qualified people as soon as we invaded. And the current problem is getting troops and cops to fire on their own people who they know may have a legitimate beef with us being there. Which sounds a hell of a lot like Vietnam. Wasn't that the big plan there? Train the Vietnamese to fight for us in our absence? Altough it was never put that bluntly, that's the real problem. When the perception and reality are we are there to screw them out of their natural resources and kill those who protest too much with either airstrikes or death squads, it's going to be tough to find people to consistently fight for us. Those who do are unlikely to be choir boys, and likely inspire even less love for the puppet government.
  

By supporting Lieberman's dishonest statement, the DLC shows themselves as wanting to do the real debate and business of government behind closed doors and leave us out.