European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 1, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                May 2007 stars and stripes Mideast edition Page 13 opinion al Aida has left us with one Choice in Iraq by Joseph Lieberman Washington recently a series of coordinated Sui cide bombings killed More than 170 the victims were not soldiers or government officials but civilians innocent women and children indiscriminately murdered on their Way Home from work and if such an atrocity had been perpetrated in the United Europe or our response would surely have been anger at the fanatics responsible and resolve not to sur Lieberman Render to their Barbar because this Slaughter took place in the carnage was seized upon As the latest talking Point by advocates of withdrawal Here in rather than condemning the attacks and the terrorists who committed critics trumpeted them As proof that David Petrae us Security strategy has failed and that the War is this reaction is dangerously it reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of both the reality in Iraq and the nature of the enemy we Are fighting what is needed in Iraq policy is not Over heated rhetoric but a sober assessment of the Progress we have made and the challenges we still in the two months since Petraeus took the United states and its iraqi al shiite sectarian violence and terrorizing the sunnis into in other just As Petraeus and his troops Are working to empower and unite iraqi moderates by establishing Basic Securi ties have made encouraging Progress on two al Aida is trying to Divide and conquer problems that once seemed intractable with spectacular acts of tamping Down the shiite led sectarian Vio that is Why the suggestion that we can Lence that paralysed Baghdad until recently fight al Aida but stay out of Iraq civil and consolidating support from iraqi sunnis War is since the very Crux of particularly in a province Dis a Laidas strategy in Iraq has been to try to missed just a few months ago As hopelessly mired in this Progress is but it is still prelim the suicide bomb Ings we see now in Iraq Are an attempt to re verse these gains a de calculated counteroffensive led by the same network of islamist extremists that perpetrated catastrophic attacks in Turkey new York and to the extent that the recent blood shed clarified it is that the Battle of Baghdad is increasingly a Battle against whether we like it or al Aida views the iraqi capital As a Central front of its War against a Laidas strategy for Victory in Iraq is Ami in Iraq int to get a seat at the political table it wants to blow up the provoke civil the current wave of suicide bombings in Iraq is also aimed at us Here in the United states to obscure the recent gains we have made and to con Vince the american Public that our efforts in Iraq Are futile and that we should when politicians Here declare that Iraq is lost in reaction to a Laidas terrorist at tacks and demand timetables for withdraw they Are doing exactly what al Aida Hopes they will although i know that is not their even As the american political Center fal the iraqi political Center is in the aftermath of the recent there were no Large scale reprisals by shiite Mili Tias As undoubtedly would have occurred it is trying to kill As Many innocent last despite the Iraq Leader people As possible in the Hope of re igniting ship continues to make slow but visible Progress toward Compromise and re Concilia but if tomorrow shiites and kurd were to achieve the political solution we All Hope the threat of al Aida in Iraq would not after int carrying out mass murder against civilians in the streets of Baghdad because it wants a More equitable distribution of Oil its aim in Iraq int to get a seat at the political table it wants to blow up the table along with everyone seated at certainly al Aida can be weakened by isolating it but even after the overwhelming majority of iraqis agree on a shared political there will remain a hardened Core of extremists who Are dedicated to destroying that vision through horrific these forces cannot be negotiated or Rea soned out of they must be defeat the Challenge before is whether we respond to a Laidas barbarism by run Ning As it Hopes we do abandoning the future of the Middle East and ultimately our own Security to the very people responsible for the recent atrocities or whether we stand and to there is Only one Choice that protects americas Security and that is to and and Joseph Lieberman is an Independent democratic senator from this column first appeared in the Washington Post Bush is increasingly alone on continuing in Iraq i Dan Thomasson Washington met an old Friend and colleague on k Street the other and she looked a bit she told me that her sons tour in Iraq had been extended be cause of president Bush surge and she expressed concern that his planned although a year might have to be Post the wedding worry was just a coverup for what really bothers her nearly every minute of every Day his she was too much a trouper not to present a facade of Confidence about his be it would be bad Luck to even discuss instead she talked about some of the inter Esting aspects of a foreign assignment that under any other circumstance would be a wonderfully educating experience in the Cra dle of she detailed some of the problems of accommodating More and More including makeshift sleeping arrangements and Lack of an old Story in this he had to lend his sidearm to his Superior who didst have she Shak ing her did you know that the Irani ans have disbursed new kinds of bombs that can Pierce any Armor she explained As though she were an old Veteran that of course the More Armor you put the slower the vehicle making it More then suddenly she looked at me and asked Why is this president so stubborn in her tone was the a mistaken note of Motherly one that is now ech oed by millions of other americans who can see no end to or even reason for this debacle the president so glibly Calls there can be no nearly every expert Only continued chaos As Long As american troops Are he is like a child who puts his hands Over his my Friend said and in not listening i cant hear you her analysis More and More has be come the Norm even among those publicly still Loyal to the White House but privately longtime Bridges of cooperation and Friendship Are coming Down quicker than one can say Saddam Vic a longtime Republican a close Friend of Richard Cheney and a Collaborator with his in at least one literary recently was quoted As saying that he Felt the vice president was out of in a forthcoming Book the invasion of the party a former aide to Barry Goldwater and a Friend of George is excruciatingly critical of the bus Cheney no less a Loyal ally than Sam Brown the conservative Kansas Republican running for conceded to reporters recently that the White House has spent too much time looking for a rather than a it is anyone guess As to How Long it will be before the dam of resentment among congressional republicans flooding the Chambers with enough votes to override any veto of legislation or Dering the parallels Between the two command ers in chief from Lyndon Johnson and George grow but key among them has been the utter refusal even in the last months of their presi Dency to understand the futility and even wrongheaded Ness of their commitments no matter How sincere they were in making and pursuing the questions being asked by my Friend who has been an observer in close proximity to seven presidents Are the same ones that were asked in the 1960s when she first came to the no answers then Are the same no answers Johnson left it up to Richard Nixon to end the misery of there can be no nearly every expert Only continued chaos As Long As american troops Are Vietnam and it finally took Congress and Gerald Ford to accomplish that in an Atmo sphere of remember the frantic Rush to the helicopters at the embassy in Saigon As the North vietnamese entered the City Bush has indicated it will be up to someone else to get us out of that just do you think we will be Able to have that wedding in my Friend or will he be assigned to More time Over there it is an answer no one can but a bet Ting Man would put his Money on an electorate so angry Over this mess the answer would be yes to the wed one has to believe that there is no escaping the chaos that will ensue no matter when withdrawal comes the sooner the Dan Thomasson is former editor of Scripps Howard news prickly City by Scott Stantis most of time i Tel c