Sen. Joe Lieberman
Photos: Reuters
Joe Lieberman pays the price
Challenge to veteran Jewish Democrat could have far-reaching implications for Middle East
Will Lieberman lose the elections? No, not Avigdor Lieberman, the head of the Israel Our Home party and a current Knesset member. I mean Joe Lieberman, the veteran Connecticut Democrat up for re-election this November who is currently fighting for his political life.
Lieberman, one of the country's most senior Democrats, was the first Jew to run for vice president (on Al Gore's ticket in 2000), and ran for president in his own right in 2004, finds himself today at a risk of losing November's senate race – but not by a Republican opponent, but by a Democratic one.
Supported the war
Lieberman's "sin" was to support President Bush with regard to the war in Iraq. In contrast to several of his Senate colleagues, he felt the free world needed to get rid of Saddam Hussein.
And like his party colleague, New York Sen. Hilary Clinton, he also thought a quick retreat from Iraq would not only fail to bring an end to American attempts to bring about some degree of normalization in that country, but would also endanger peace in other places, particular in the Middle East.
Orwellian twist
The campaign against Lieberman is being conducted by the party's left wing that has turned Iraq and its hatred for President Bush its one and only political flag. In a classic Orwellian twist, they call Lieberman a "taitor" for collaborating with Bush's "deception" leading up to the war.
The head of this campaign is Marcus Moulitsas Zuniga. Zuniga is waging his war on the internet, with a fair amount of success amongst party activists who want to rid the party not only of Lieberman, but also of Clintonism, and want to steer the party towards the radical left.
One of the most outrageous expressions of this phenomenon was Moulitsas statement that he didn't care about the brutal murder of American workers in Iraq. "Screw 'em," he wrote.
Common enemies
Isolationism is not new in American politics. Sometimes it appears on the radical right, sometimes on the radical left. Sometimes right and left join forces to fight a common "enemy." One of the most famous examples was the union of Nazi-supporting pilot Charles Lindburgh with Labor leader Johann L. Louis to fight President Roosevelt, who understood that great disaster was on the horizon for the free world if the United States refused to lead the struggle against Hitler.
Their joint slogan was "America should not allow itself to get dragged into a war for the English and the Jews."
Not coincidentally, that slogan is reminiscent of some of the things we hear today, such as the "study" by two professors, one from Harvard and one from the University of Chicago, who claim "Zionists" and "pro-Israel elements" had an undue role in encouraging President Bush to go to war to bring down Saddam Hussein.
Everything is still up in the air in Connecticut, but the results of that state's election could have far-reaching implications, not only for America, but also for the war on terror around the world. Particularly in our region.
