Joe Lieberman’s op-ed in this morning’s Opinion Journal is must reading if you want to know the truth about what’s happening in Iraq. Suffice it to say that he shames the ‘Dunce-like Duo’, aka Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, with actual facts on the ground. Here’s a sampling of those facts:

When I returned to Anbar on this trip, however, the security environment had undergone a dramatic reversal. Attacks on U.S. troops there have dropped from an average of 30 to 35 a day a few months ago to less than one a day now, according to Col. John Charlton, commander of the 1st Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division, headquartered in Ramadi. Whereas six months ago only half of Ramadi’s 23 tribes were cooperating with the coalition, all have now been persuaded to join an anti-al Qaeda alliance. One of Ramadi’s leading sheikhs told me: “A rifle pointed at an American soldier is a rifle pointed at an Iraqi.”

This stands in stark contrast with Reid’s and Pelosi’s pronouncement yesterday. Here’s the heart of their pronouncement:

“The increase in US forces has had little impact in curbing the violence or fostering political reconciliation. It has not enhanced Americas national security. The unsettling reality is that instances of violence against Iraqis remain high and attacks on US forces have increased. In fact, the last two months of the war were the deadliest to date for US troops.”

I wouldn’t have Reid or Pelosi doing my taxes with math skills like that. They say that attacks on US forces have increased while Lieberman says that “attacks on U.S. troops there have dropped from an average of 30 to 35 a day a few months ago to less than one a day now.” With such conflicting statistics, someone isn’t telling the truth. Based on past history, I’m not betting that it’s Lieberman.

Rather than just leaving it at that, Sen. Lieberman throws this in to inflict more damage on Reid and Pelosi:

The recent U.S. experience in Anbar also rebuts the bromide that the new security plan is doomed to fail because there is no “military” solution for Iraq. In fact, no one believes there is a purely “military” solution for Iraq. But the presence of U.S. forces is critical not just to ensuring basic security, but to a much broader spectrum of diplomatic, political and economic missions, which are being carried out today in Iraq under Gen. Petraeus’s counterinsurgency strategy.

Sen. Lieberman is stating what rational people have thought for months: that there isn’t a ‘military only’ solution to Iraq and that there isn’t a ‘diplomacy only’ solution either. To think that it’s an either/or situation is foolishness.

The progress isn’t limited to Anbar, either. Here’s specific proof of that:

On Haifa Street, for instance, where there was bloody fighting not so long ago, the 2nd “Black Jack” Brigade of our First Cavalry Division, under the command of a typically impressive American colonel, Bryan Roberts, has not only retaken the neighborhood from insurgents, but is working with the local population to revamp the electrical grid and sewer system, renovate schools and clinics, and create an “economic safe zone” where businesses can reopen. Indeed, of the brigade’s five “lines of operations,” only one is strictly military. That Iraq reality makes pure fiction of the argument heard in Washington that the surge will fail because it is only “military.”

This information utterly destroys the Pelosi-Reid diatribe. Peace wouldn’t have been restored and infrastructure improvements wouldn’t be happening if the surge failed. This isn’t complicated stuff. What it is is honest reporting of the facts on the ground. That’s something sadly missing from Reid and Pelosi.

What’s new?

Technorati Tags: Joe Lieberman, David Petraeus, Ramadi, Baghdad, Anbar Province, The Surge, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, al Qaeda, Counterinsurgency

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

1. “Rational people” said this was a mistake from the beginning. “Rational people” said this was a diplomatic issue long before the liars and thieves in the White House launched their campaign to invade Iraq and destroy America.

   And just about the last person anybody is call “rational” is Joe Lieberman, who was asked by the chair of his party — the party he created when he lost the Democratic nomination — to resign.

   And now, Lieberman is building “joementum” to invade Iran. What’s rational about that?

   And just to be clear, Reid and Pelosi are, in fact, correct when they say “the last two months of the war were the deadliest to date for US troops.” So, get out your calculator and add it up:

   Period US UK Other* Total Avg Days
   6-2007 42 1 0 43 2.87 15
   5-2007 126 3 2 131 4.23 31
   4-2007 104 12 1 117 3.9 30
   3-2007 81 1 0 82 2.65 31
   2-2007 80 3 1 84 3 28
   1-2007 83 3 0 86 2.77 31
   12-2006 112 1 2 115 3.71 31
   11-2006 70 6 2 78 2.6 30
   10-2006 106 2 2 110 3.55 31
   9-2006 72 3 2 77 2.57 30
   8-2006 65 1 0 66 2.13 31
   7-2006 43 1 2 46 1.48 31
   6-2006 61 0 2 63 2.1 30
   5-2006 69 9 1 79 2.55 31
   4-2006 76 1 5 82 2.73 30
   3-2006 31 0 2 33 1.06 31
   2-2006 55 3 0 58 2.07 28
   1-2006 62 2 0 64 2.06 31
   12-2005 68 0 0 68 2.19 31
   11-2005 84 1 1 86 2.87 30

   The full chart of all 3,519 military casualties can be found at http://icasualties.org/oif/.

   Finally, to “totally destroy” your theory, is this the same Joe Lieberman who strolled through the marketplace wearing a bulletproof vest and protected by something like a hundred of OUR TROOPS for his photo-op? You know, if he were a Democrat, you’d be slamming him for risking all those lives to get on the “biased” news.

   Comment by Rocky — June 15, 2007 @ 3:55 pm

2. Rocky, spewing a bunch of regurgitated non-facts from moveon.org does not help anyone but your left wing lunatic friends (more on this aspect in my last sentence).

   The reality is 5k troop deaths in 4 years of war in 2 countries is an astounding success by any standard of military battles in history..

   In those same 4 years over 160k INNOCENT AMERICANS have been killed on our roadways. Where SHOULD your outrage be directed? Crocodile tears shed towards soldiers deaths while engaged in a noble cause is the wrong answer unless youre a career victim which you sound lkie..

   You bunch of kool-aid drinking libs are going to get us all killed playing political games with natl security.

   Just remember, when the taliban comes knocking at your door be sure to let them know your political views, just before they decapitate your sad sack ass.

   Comment by Mitch the Bitch — June 15, 2007 @ 4:45 pm

3. Mitch, you accurately-named… poster, if you want to just compare numbers (supposing as you contend that that absolves the neocon cabal), the US military reports that between 65,000 and 75,000 INNOCENT Iraqi civilians have been killed since the start of this ill-fated war, and everybody assumes that the military is not accurately counting. It’s more like 600,000.

   Add to that the entire middle class of Iraq has left the country, leaving only militants, insurgents and the poor, and you have a recipe for an unmitigated disaster.

   I’m not shedding tears, crocodile or any other nature, for the troops. They are fighting and dying for our right to stand up and say “This is the most corrupt administration in the history of this nation” and “Dick Cheney should be impeached for his war crimes.” Hell, they’re saying it themselves.

   I’m not the one who constantly uses the troops as political tools; that honor belongs to the conservatives. I could quote a bunch of pithy statements made by the likes of Rush Limpdick, Gary Gross, and the entire mob of losers running for the republican nomination.

   So where’s my outrage? Forget the White House, that’s pointless until either Jan. 20, 2009, or impeachment; my outrage today is pointed at the obstructionist republicans in the Congress who refuse to take a hard, honest look at the facts. Maybe they could take a lesson from Pat Buchanan on Scarborough’s show:

   “I can tell you the moment that I realized this Iraq thing was going south … when the Golden Mosque got blown up the first time,” said Scarborough to guest Pat Buchanan. “What in the world can the United States government do to stop this?”

   “I don’t think there’s much we can do, Joe,” answered Buchanan. “The numbers show the surge is not stopping the insurgency. … I think some Republicans are going to be joining those Democrats in calling for deadlines.”

   But that doesn’t fit with your warped world view, does it?

   Comment by Rocky — June 15, 2007 @ 5:30 pm

4. Gosh, Rocky, watch this:

   750,000 AL QUAIDA INSURGENTS KILLED IN LAST WEEK ALONE! AND THEY WERE ALL INNOCENT CIVILIANS!!!!!

   See how easy it is to pick a number, any number, and fit one’s views? You don’t have to do anything, either, ’cause I can prove it’s real, it’s on the net! I kinda like playing this game ’cause I can create bigger (nonsensical) numbers than you.

   Call us and let us know when you’re back in the solar system.

   Comment by Carlos — June 16, 2007 @ 3:29 pm