Replies

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2006/08/michael_chertoff_rep_pete_hoek.html

About halfway down the page:

WALLACE: Of course, your big issue is your opposition to the war in Iraq, and you've pointed it out again today. You think that it's a distraction from the war on terror.

Last week you were asked the following, and let's put it up on the screen, what would you do right now if you were in the Senate about Iraq? Your answer, "I would have supported, you know, the Kerry-Feingold amendment which calls for pulling out all U.S. troops out of Iraq by next July.

Mr. Lamont, what do you think happens to Iraqis who trusted us to protect them from the insurgents? What do you think happens with all the sectarian violence if we pull all of our troops out in less than a year?

LAMONT: Look what's happening now. We've been there three years. We've gone from greeted as liberators to just a few dead- enders, to some sectarian violence, to civil war. You know, unlike Senator Lieberman, unlike President Bush, I think we've got to look at the facts on the ground.

Things are getting worse, and our very visible front-line presence is making the situation worse in many ways. So let's be clear with the Maliki government. Let's say we have no permanent intentions upon your military bases. We're going to not be here on a permanent basis. It's not unconditional. We're going to start bringing our troops home, and we ought to have them home within a year.

I think that's reasonable, gives them time, their 200,000 troops to step up. But it's a basic message. I mean, President Bush says we'll stand down as soon as the Iraqis stand up. I turn that on its head. I think the Iraqis won't stand up until we stand down.

So let's negotiate a phased withdrawal. Chris, we'll be there. We'll be there for humanitarian support. We'll be there for reconstruction. But now's the time to get the very American face off of this perceived occupation.

WALLACE: But the prime minister, al-Maliki, was here just recently and said we need U.S. troops to continue to be there. What if you're wrong, Mr. Lamont, Senator Lamont? What if you're wrong? You vote for this, to get them out, and there's a blood bath?

LAMONT: There is a blood bath. What if it keeps getting worse? What if it gets even worse? No, I don't think I want to have 132,000 troops back in the middle of a civil war. I think only the Iraqis will be able to solve this for themselves.

We'll be there for support. We've got our troops in Kuwait. We have our maritime presence. We'll make sure that Iran and others don't come in to create any mischief. But I think the big difference between the president and I, the senator and I, is I think it's now time for the Iraqis to step up and take control of their own destiny.

WALLACE: So under all circumstances, all troops out by next July.

LAMONT: I don't know about all circumstances whatever. But right now I think our policy ought to be let's be clear with the Maliki government. We're going to have our troops out within a year. We'll be there for reconstruction, training, everything else in the background. But yes, I think let's set the record straight.

Then:

WALLACE: This week you even linked the war in Iraq to what's going on in Israel. Take a look at this, if you will.

LAMONT: Sure.

WALLACE: This is what you had to say. "Hezbollah has been emboldened. They're attacking Israel. I think you can just look around the Middle East right now and you can see just the many factors of how this invasion of Iraq was a disaster."

Mr. Lamont, here's a brief history of Hezbollah, and let's put it up. In 1983, they bombed the U.S. embassy and the Marine barracks, killing 258 Americans.

In 1996, they helped the Iranians blow up the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, killing 19 servicemen.

They have been at war with Israel for a quarter century. Can you really blame Hezbollah on the war in Iraq?

LAMONT: I'd say the war in Iraq has emboldened Iran. An emboldened Iran doesn't have its historical enemy, Iraq, right there, makes Israel more vulnerable. Iran, Syria, Hezbollah -- there is a nexus there.

Yes, I think we've destabilized the Middle East and we've done nothing for Israel's security because of this.

WALLACE: And you think that this Hezbollah attack -- you can link it to the fact that we're in Iraq?

LAMONT: Well, what I said was our invasion of Iraq has done nothing for Israel's security and has emboldened Iran. Absolutely.

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Lamont is an idiot!

Post WWII the country was more united than it had been in a long time. Both sides of the political equation, Pubbies and dems, knew what fascism/totalitarianism/dictators were and what they stood for.

Fast forward 50 years into a PC world with a nanny state govt. now firmly in place in the US with a spinning DBM triangulating, anything for power people like Soros, Howard Dean, Harry reid,Pelosi, hillary and bill clinton/John McCainiac world of the early 2,000's and if your head has not stopped spinning it's no wonder.

For the most part these people who would trick your mind(with the aide of their drive-by companions) into voting for them, are not as slick and brilliant as they may think.

So last week when dusty harry had the true nerve to accuse GW of being behind the quelled attack from more mad crazy islamofascists crazed bombers in the UK,who were upset about how we got in the middle of a "civil war in Iraq"(what BS) few were surprised. The politically astute, many on this website, had even expected it.

We now have an opposition party(the dirty dems) that has little or no respect for Democracy and freedom only political power at any cost. So when dusty harry proclaimed that we are creating terrorists because of our stand for freedom in Iraq and other areas of the globe (which could be WWIII only time will tell), few were surprised.

But some may have had their fill. Some may have sat back and reflected saying here our country was just saved from potentially another 911 style attack and the opposition party is complaining! Is this a time for complaints or a time for celebration and rejoicing of the fact that we were not attacked! Prudent people/voters know the answer. Those jaded by the all encompassing thoughts of power who speculated that the dem/rats might make a clean sweep in Nov. courtesy of all the remaking of history creatively done by the DBM maybe better take another look at our nation and how it views it's patriots and its traitors.

People are not dumb. They know the difference.