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Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman contributed an opinion piece to the November 29th Wall Street Journal titled “Our Troops Must Stay”. I’ve always liked Senator Lieberman and would have voted for him in the last elections if he had made it past the primaries. I highly recommend checking his piece out here: “Our Troops Must Stay”.

I read the article and wonder if Senator Lieberman really wrote it, or perhaps his staff helps him? Regardless, it is excellent. The article is essentially an update of the status of the war in Iraq and his position on what we must do to succeed there. The whole article made me wish our President would give us clear updates like this.

Apparently, the Senator just completed his 4th trip to Iraq in the last 17 months. He outlines what progress has been made in solid terms everyone can understand. He provides anecdotes of the Iraqis having far more cell phones and access to the modern media with satellite dishes. And he also delivers hard data from surveys of the population and voting results. He talks of the vigorous campaigns of the candidates for the upcoming elections. And he talks of the war in Iraq as being between 27 million Iraqis and 10,000 terrorists. He makes it clear that relatively few are attempting to obstruct the democracy while the vast majority are supporting it.

Senator Lieberman also reminds us of our clear current plan in Iraq, and that the plan has not remained unchanged. He talks of the current plan’s summary line, “clear, hold and build” and then discusses the details. And of course he pats our hardworking military on the back for their courageous effort.

And one of the things I liked best in the Senator’s opinion was how he chastised both parties. He is disappointed by Democrats who are more concerned with how the President took us into the war three years ago. And he is just as disappointed with Republicans who are worried about how the war will disrupt their political moves in the next elections. He fears these weak politicians will make a “colossal mistake” and push us “to seize defeat from the jaws of victory”.

The Senator cites a survey saying 82% of Iraqis are confident their lives will be better in a year. We should strive to make our government work in a way that makes us just as confident. Can we find senators, representative and presidents who can present their opinion as well as Joe Lieberman? And can we push our current President to give us reports like this one?

Carl