Quote Of The Day: Voice In The Wilderness Edition

No responsible leader in Washington desires conflict with Iran. But every leader has a responsibility to acknowledge the evidence that the U.S. military has now put before us: The Iranian government, by its actions, has all but declared war on us and our allies in the Middle East. -- Sen. Joe Lieberman

What's so hard to get? Why is there such denial?

Russia fought proxy wars with us for decades, as did China. Now there's a new enemy, Islamofascism, and many are doing the intellectual equivalent of gouging out their eyes to avoid seeing the obvious.

In a major WSJ opinion piece today (which also tops RCP and Memeorandum), Lieberman lays out the case:

• Iran is using Hezbollah to train terrorists to kill our troops in Iraq
• The Iranian Quds force is taking Iraqi insurgents to training camps in Iran, training them, then dispatching them back to Iraq
• Iran spends $3 million a month on its proxies in Iraq
  

Lieberman shares my view that diplomatic efforts must continue as an effort to tighten the screws on Tehran through means other than military -- but to give our diplomacy some muscle by backing it with an ominous, powerful, intent military presence.

Kudos, as usual to Joe. He's worth a hundred Pete Domenici's, Richard Lugars and Crybaby Voinoviches. Too bad he doesn't get a hundred votes to their one, because compare his quote above with this one from Domenici:

We cannot continue asking our troops to sacrifice indefinitely while the Iraqi government is not making measurable progress.

We can't? Indefinitely? Not making progress? What a disgusting, cowardly line of reasoning. Domenici has to see that this has nothing to do with the Iraqi government's progress, which is an excuse, a convenient cop-out. The threats to us are real. If Iraq is ready to stand beside us, fine. If not, then we must still protect ourselves.

So it is with sadness that I read this from Lieberman's piece:

When Congress reconvenes next week, all of us who are privileged to serve there should set aside whatever partisan or ideological differences divide us to send a clear, strong and unified message to Tehran that it must stop everything it is doing to bring about the death of American service members in Iraq.

It seems like an obvious, unavoidable thing to do. But don't count on it. The Senate is filling with men of no stomach, men of no vision, men who live and die by opinion polls instead of thinking about who wants to kill us. But as bad as they are, they're infinitely superior to the human sump-sludge of the Leftyblogs, who greeted the op/ed like this:

Thank goodness you were there Joe to ensure their victory, for without this glorious cluster**** you love more than whining-itself Iran would not have won. In fact, our glorious stupidity, that you enabled, brought forth the crazy-man in the members only jacket. Naturally, your wisdom now is unimpeachable...just like your beloved Chimp.

Can't these pathetic losers get over themselves and their petty egos and grand paranoid visions? There's an enemy, and it's not us. There's a war, and it's not fake. There are good people, and there's them.