Lieberman Attacks Democrats For Criticizing Maliki -- On Same Day That Report From U.S. Intelligence Services Criticizes Maliki
August 23, 2007 -- 1:33 PM EST // //
Okay, it's admittedly not hard to have fun at Joe Lieberman's expense, but this one's too good to pass up.
This morning Lieberman and his chief flack Marshall Wittmann put out a press release containing Lieberman's usual attacks on Democrats over Iraq. The duo faulted "Congressional critics" of Iraq's Maliki government and slammed Dems who have criticized Maliki as basically helping our "enemies."
But in a case of comically awful timing, Lieberman and Wittmann's latest attack on Dems came just hours before the release of excerpts of a new National Intelligence Estimate from our intelligence services that...criticized the performance of the Maliki government in terms that are awfully similar to the things Democrats have been saying.
Needless to say, Lieberman and Wittmann have yet to put out a subsequent press release attacking the U.S. intelligence services that authored the NIE.
From Lieberman's press release, which Lieberman's office bills as a "response to recent Congressional attacks on the Iraqi government":
"Forced by facts on the ground to acknowledge the progress of the American and Iraqi militaries since the new surge strategy started, some of these opponents of the war are now turning their harshest criticism on our allies in Iraq instead of our enemies. This is a mistake....Political progress in Iraq depends on this kind of steady statecraft and patient diplomacy on the ground in Baghdad, rather than scapegoating and congressionally-ordered coups....To Lieberman and Wittmann, Congressional Dems criticizing the failures of the Maliki government -- Senators Harry Reid and Carl Levin, among many othersas well as many others -- are failing to distinguish our allies from our enemies in Iraq. To criticize the Maliki government is to fail to "recognize our gains" and to indulge in "skapegoating.""We have made enormous progress in defending and advancing America's vital national interests in Iraq over the past six months against our two deadliest enemies in the world—-al Qaeda and Iran. Realism requires that we recognize these gains, not dismiss or disparage them--and that we distinguish between our allies in Iraq, and our enemies."
Now, a few hours later, excerpts of the new NIE on Iraq have leaked out. And wouldn't you know it, but the NIE -- which represents the collaborative judgment of the U.S.'s intelligence agencies -- offers a harsh assessment of the Maliki government and the situation in Iraq that is strikingly similar to the case being made by Dems.
The NIE says that despite uneven security gains, the dominant story in Iraq right now is the inability of the Maliki government to achieve political reconciliation -- again, precisely what Dem Congressional critics have been saying.
And in a final irony, the NIE assessment is actually closer in key ways to what Dems have been saying than Lieberman's claims are. Lieberman's release says we have made "enormous progress" in Iraq. But the NIE says that we have only had "measurable but uneven improvements" on the security front, and adds that "the level of overall violence remains high" and that Iraqi leaders are "unable to govern effectively" -- an overall view of things echoed by Dems in recent days.
When Lieberman and Wittmann send out their next release attacking our intelligence services for painting this dire picture of the state of play in Iraq, this blog will be the first to post it. Guaranteed.
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