ADDED: Spencer Ackerman said:
Is it a mistake to respond to this with more than ridicule? Maybe, but if not: it’s a ludicrously blithe and cost-free assertion to say that we need to take preemptive action in Yemen. What the fuck does Joe Lieberman know about Yemen? What does anyone in the Washington policy community know about Yemen? .... Lieberman just gets to go on Fox and monger away, unchallenged. Such is life....Kind of hard to backpedal from that, but the NYT has this:
In the midst of two unfinished major wars, the United States has quietly opened a third, largely covert front against Al Qaeda in Yemen.AND: Instapundit notes:
A year ago, the Central Intelligence Agency sent many field operatives with counterterrorism experience to the country, according a former top agency official. At the same time, some the most secretive Special Operations commandos have begun training Yemeni security forces in counterterrorism tactics, senior military officers said.
The Pentagon is spending more than $70 million over the next 18 months, and using teams of Special Forces, to train and equip Yemeni military, Interior Ministry and coast guard forces, more than doubling previous military aid levels....
What’s interesting is the raft of commenters accusing Lieberman of being a stooge for Israel because of this statement, when he’s quoting an administration official.I'm seeing, at the original report that I began with: "an administration official told him that..." So I didn't think I was quoting a quote. It's a paraphrase, I think. But Lieberman didn't make it up, and the NYT article makes it pretty clear that the attacks on Lieberman are embarrassing and should be withdrawn quickly.
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37 comments:
I don't know. The Egyptians didn't do so well there.
Yemen will be tomorrow's war.
The USS Cole was bombed on 12 October 2000 in Yemen.
Senator Lieberman's tomorrow is obviously taking longer to arrive than most people's.
Is he running for President again?
Now if we can get Mr. Lieberman to lead the first wave coming ashore...
There 'ya go! The status of politics and terror on planet Earth reduced to two sentences.
What an amazing smart man he is for being able to do that!
It makes one long for the nuance of W's administration, where W would allow himself a full three or four sentences to explain things.
Wow, Joe sure knows how to pour salt into the wounds of already smarting liberals. Ouch. I can't wait to hear from that retard Joe Biden on all this.
Right, Opus. Just like President Clinton manned the jets that bombed and killed so many people in Bosnia.
Because, clearly, the old canard that our political class must lead our military physically--that one is always a winning trump card among the witty but unserious.
I would remind Mr. Lieberman that there is no evidence of a wider conspiracy.
Doesn't he watch the Sunday morning talk shows.
The system is working.
So what's "necessary" about Afghanistan if Al Qaeda, which is not tied to any single geographical entity, decides to jump to Yemen, or Somalia or Sudan? Nothing. Nothing's necessary about Afghanistan other than its value to Barry as a smokescreen to hide his, uh....lack of passion for defeating his Al Qaeda mirror image America haters.
The Obama Doctrine is so much nicer than the Bush Doctrine.
In case you weren't paying attention .. the Obama Doctrine is a B plus ;)
The problem with these wars is the unwarranted assumption that we are going to be able to leave these places with some kind of political truce in place and the fantasy in some quarters that we will be able to build nations in these hell holes.
We will be fighting in political voids for a long time. Poor Obama. The poor left. Once again constrained by reality and the responsibility that comes with power.
In case you weren't paying attention .. the Obama Doctrine is a B plus ;)
"F" for class participation.
That should be "quoth Joe Lieberman, not "said Joe Lieberman." The reports I've read say Lieberman attributed that phrase to an official in the Obama administration.
Umm, so how the fuck does Joe Lieberman explain the fact that we are already hitting targets in Yemen? That the Ft. Hood Imam is ALREADY dead? Is it possible that Joe Lieberman is an ignorant, preening asshole who barely bothers to educate himself on the fine details of any policy, preferring to parade his disgusting corpus before television cameras with pure, unadulterated dumbassery?
The terrifying, deadly terrorist strike in Detroit that killed over 1 million people was probably retaliation for the above...
Will Montagne be embarrassed if Beth is correct? Probably not, as embarrassment presupposes self-awareness.
Is Althouse embarrassed? This post is wrong.
Nothing will ever shame me out of a profound belief that Joe Lieberman is an ignorant asshole.
Lieberman, thank God, gets it - unlike Montagne, although I wish he'd start referring to them as campaigns, not wars. But he does understand it's all one big fight, broken down into several fronts
John Lynch said...
I don't know. The Egyptians didn't do so well there.
That's why you want to send in the SAS and the Royal Marines. They did a bang-up job there.
vbspurs said...
In case you weren't paying attention .. the Obama Doctrine is a B plus ;)
"F" for class participation.
Not to mention he didn't even turn in his term paper
Edutcher-- because in your infinite all seeing wisdom you seemed to have missed it, let me break it down for you...
Joe Lieberman is quoting an Obama administration official in the statement above. Althouse's post is misleading. So if you think "he gets it," then you think Obama gets it. Which is an ontological impossibility. So here is a chance for you to amend your statement.
Not to mention he didn't even turn in his term paper..
It really should be called the Pelosi Reid Health Deform.
"The poor left. Once again constrained by reality and the responsibility that comes with power."
Wait just one minute.
As I understand it ... the system worked.
What's everybody on about?
Let's see now. In "The Necessary War" Barry has 100 Al Queada being chased by 110,000 Americans plus NATO forces running around in 80 mountain valleys playing IED human exploder and ambushee games. And Al Queda is actually at work in Yemen near the sea lanes choke point and the Saudi oil fields and planning a second round of attacks on Iraq. Aloha Barry! The enemy needs another one of your sincerist smiles to let them know that we mean them no harm.
Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen...etc... ad infinitim.
Those not fighting wars ON THE GOVERNMENT PAYROLL, will just be on your state and federal GOVERNMENT PAYROLL, because that's where the jobs are today.
WTF, America?
Montagne Montaigne said...
Edutcher-- because in your infinite all seeing wisdom you seemed to have missed it, let me break it down for you...
Joe Lieberman is quoting an Obama administration official in the statement above. Althouse's post is misleading.
Yes, but Lieberman means it.
I am impressed that Montagne managed to keep on without missing a beat. It's like getting shot in the stomach but insisting that you finish your speech.
Want more proof that the system is working?
Six Yemeni detainees at Guantanamo Bay to be repatriated
By Peter Finn, Sudarsan Raghavan and Julie Tate
Friday, December 18, 2009
The Obama administration is planning to repatriate six Yemenis held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a transfer that could be a prelude to the release of dozens more detainees to Yemen, according to sources with independent knowledge of the matter.
The release is a significant first step toward dealing with the largest group of detainees at the prison -- there are currently 97 Yemenis there -- and toward meeting President Obama's goal of closing the facility.
But Yemen's security problems and lack of resources have spawned fears about its ability to monitor and rehabilitate returnees. Critics of the administration charge that returning detainees to Yemen, a country where al-Qaeda is believed to be thriving, is tantamount to returning terrorists to the battlefield.
Just in ... Mary Landreau and Ben Nelson have agreed to support the defense of the USA from terrorists for one more year in exchange for Louisiana being given Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma; and Nebraska being given Iowa, Kansas and Missouri.The 60 votes in the senate and the Presidency are all they need, said Harry Reid. I am Sorry to tell Althouse what States Illinois demands in exchange for its support of the War for one more year.
It's like getting shot in the stomach but insisting that you finish your speech.
More like "It's only a flesh wound!" ;-)
VW: "sycedar"
The VW daemon is apparently predicting Cedarford will show up in this topic in three... two... one...
Yemen is a carefully crafted diversion intended to draw US troops away from Iraq and Afghanistan.
The testibomber was sent to incur the anger of the US by killing hundreds in an aircraft crash in a big city.
America would retaliate, I was hoped, thereby weakening its forces elsewhere in the mid-east and making them ripe for severe damage by a counter-insurgent Taliban.
And with some luck an planning, an American warship or an oil tanker could be sunk in the Straits of Hormuz, blocking the movement of all other oil tankers, thereby rendering massive damage to the American (and Western) economies.
Lieberman is right. But it is a trap.
Michael -- I don't think Afghanistan is some kind of land of milk and honey for Islamic radicals. And the Taliban and Al Qaeda don't have a common purpose.
I would argue differently. Yemen is the next battlefield because Afghanistan is no longer a good place to run a radical islamicist operation.
This is a post-national war. Or pre-national or transnational, if you like but, at any rate, not conducive to nation-state thinking.
I've got to hand it to the progressives. The whole secret-war-in-Yemen-with-CIA-operatives thing flat caught me by surprise.
The progressives sure as hell know how to do the war thing. Looks like they are even out neo-conning the neo-cons.
______
And the Taliban and Al Qaeda don't have a common purpose.
No? Which doesn't favor the defeat of western civilization and forced conversion to Islam by the sword?
Or is it that one prefers reversion to the 7th century and the other to the 9th?
After the Detroit thing, Nigeria will be tomorrow's war. If Obama's not willing to do it, then Sarah Palin will do it in 2013. And it will be a good way to also stop all those email scams.
Michael -- Forgive me. That was supposed to read the Taliban and Al Qaeda don't always have a common purpose. I think China and the USSR is a fairly good parallel there.
Seven - That clears it up, thanks. I agree that their purposes may not always be common.
Lieberman is right in this instance. But he doesn't get a pass on his HCR vote.
It will literally require Manhattan to be a smoking crater before Monty admits we are in a war.
Seven Machos said...
Right, Opus. Just like President Clinton manned the jets .. the old canard that our political class must lead our military physically--that one is always a winning trump card among the witty but unserious."
It was meant tongue in cheek Seven, not foot in mouth like you just wrote....
Ehn. Just because it hasn't seeped into the general national consciousness doesn't change the fact that Yemen's been an active front for years. We've been Predator-missiling in Yemen for quite a number of years.
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