Senator Joseph Lieberman (Ind-CT) wrote a column which was published yesterday on the political atmosphere in Congress regarding the Iraq war, and on the necessity of success. Despite disagreeing with Joe Lieberman on important issues, he is without doubt a patriot (and a confirmed fan of Bob Dylan) and I think that we’re fortunate he occupies the pivotal position that he now does in the U.S. Senate. Thank you, Daily Kos et al.

Two months into the 110th Congress, Washington has never been more bitterly divided over our mission in Iraq. The Senate and House of Representatives are bracing for parliamentary trench warfare–trapped in an escalating dynamic of division and confrontation that will neither resolve the tough challenges we face in Iraq nor strengthen our nation against its terrorist enemies around the world.

What is remarkable about this state of affairs in Washington is just how removed it is from what is actually happening in Iraq. There, the battle of Baghdad is now under way. A new commander, Gen. David Petraeus, has taken command, having been confirmed by the Senate, 81-0, just a few weeks ago. And a new strategy is being put into action, with thousands of additional American soldiers streaming into the Iraqi capital.

Congress thus faces a choice in the weeks and months ahead. Will we allow our actions to be driven by the changing conditions on the ground in Iraq–or by the unchanging political and ideological positions long ago staked out in Washington? What ultimately matters more to us: the real fight over there, or the political fight over here?

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I appeal to my colleagues in Congress to step back and think carefully about what to do next. Instead of undermining Gen. Petraeus before he has been in Iraq for even a month, let us give him and his troops the time and support they need to succeed.

Gen. Petraeus says he will be able to see whether progress is occurring by the end of the summer, so let us declare a truce in the Washington political war over Iraq until then. Let us come together around a constructive legislative agenda for our security: authorizing an increase in the size of the Army and Marines, funding the equipment and protection our troops need, monitoring progress on the ground in Iraq with oversight hearings, investigating contract procedures, and guaranteeing Iraq war veterans the first-class treatment and care they deserve when they come home.

We are at a critical moment in Iraq–at the beginning of a key battle, in the midst of a war that is irretrievably bound up in an even bigger, global struggle against the totalitarian ideology of radical Islamism. However tired, however frustrated, however angry we may feel, we must remember that our forces in Iraq carry America’s cause–the cause of freedom–which we abandon at our peril.

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This morning, I was woken up to the local newsradio station announcing an apparent bombing attack targeting VP Dick Cheney in Bagram, Afghanistan. Turning on the Today Show twenty minutes later, I was treated to Matt Lauer announcing that there was “breaking news from Afghanistan” regarding the attack, before saying (I must paraphrase): “More on that later. There are also big developments in the Anna Nicole Smith case …”

Well, it seems dubious that the Taliban did in fact know Cheney was going to be there, as his presence was the result of a last minute change-of-plans, so perhaps the mainstream media was just trying to avoid giving them the attention they so badly desire. Hmm.

Michelle Malkin has tracked the reaction of the non-mainstream media, which, at places like the Huffington Post and the Democrat Underground, is as mind-bogglingly ugly as you could imagine. In a confrontation between medieval maniacal misogynistic gay-hating, Jew-hating, Christian-hating, atheist-hating, music-hating, free-speech-hating mass murderers and the Vice President of the United States, it’s only too clear whose side many on the modern day American left are on.

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