Lamont: Iraq not part of real terror war
Lamont Says He’s Surprised By Harshness Of Attacks From Lieberman, Cheney
WASHINGTON, Aug. 13 (UPI) — The man who beat U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman in Connecticut’s Democratic primary, Ned Lamont, says his victory does not mean the public is softening on terror. Lamont, a businessman newcomer to the political stage, told Fox News Sunday the Iraq war is not connected to the war on terror. Lamont defeated Lieberman, who is running now as an independent to hold his seat, largely on the strength of his opposition to the Iraq war, which Lieberman supports.
Since 9.11, I’ve been dreaming of a Democrat with the integrity and the cojones to speak truth to power. Sadly, the Left has generally coweried in fear as the Rabid Right created a prounounced “if you’re not with us, you’re with the terrorists” atmosphere in this country. Questioning Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader’s conduct of the war on terror almost guaranteed that a Democrat would be liable to wind up with Republicans loudly and pointedly question their patriotism. Finally, along comes a Democrat who isn’t willing to play the Right’s rules…and it seems the Right is none too happy about it.
For too long, the Rabid Right has been able to employ the Republican Noise Machine to their advantage. In doing so, they’ve managed to convince most of the American sheeple that the war in Iraq is an integral component of the war against terror. Of course, this completely ignores the reality that there was no terrorist threat in Iraq until we invaded and set up our own little benevolent dictatorship in the country. Now there’s a very real terrorist threat, one that daily threatens the lives of American soldiers and innocent Iraqi civilians. That this threat is completely the creation of Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader’s policy in Iraq gets no play in the Right-wing media. Talk about an inconvient truth….
Finally, a Democrat comes along who is willing to address the 800-lb. gorilla of American politics, and that is that the war in Iraq has nothing to do with fighting terror. The occupation of Iraq is diverting vital resources away from the war on terror, but that is not a popular notion within Conservative circles…which is why the media has devoted nary a word to it
“What this election showed is that a lot of people in Connecticut think that the invasion of Iraq has nothing to do with our war on terror,” Lamont said. “It’s been a terrible distraction.”
He cited the alleged plot to blow up a number of transatlantic flights from Britain to the United States.
“It (the alleged plot) originated in Pakistan, goes through London, and here we have 132,000 of our bravest troops stuck in the middle of a civil war in Iraq,” Lamont said.
Asked about a comment by Vice President Dick Cheney, who said that Lamont’s primary victory encourages “al-Qaida types,” Lamont said, “I find that terribly harsh and wrong. Look … what we ought to be doing is fighting the war on terror in a serious way. I think we’ve gotten a little bit complacent, to tell you the truth. Maybe we’ve had a wake-up call in the last couple of days.”
Maybe Lamont is on to something. Perhaps a wake-up call is just what the doctor ordered. It’s not that Ned Lamont is the answer, but right now he’s the only Democrat with the balls to be addressing the real problems created by our continued occupation of Iraq. Every day creates more carnage and degrades our military’s readiness, and the billions of dollars being flushed down the Iraqi rathole is money that could, and should, be spent to protect us against the true terrorist threat.
The problem, of course, is that Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader are so tied into their Evangelical base, a collection of Apocalyptic nutjobs that sees the war in Iraq as a necessary step to hasten the arrival of the End Times. Yes, while we’re fiddling in Iraq chasing the megalomanical policy of Apocalyptic Christianity, the real work that should be done to protect us from terrorism goes wanting. Perhaps if more Democrats could grow a pair like Ned Lamont, we could get things turned around. Don’t hold your breath, though.
WE DESERVE BETTER….
