Decent Human Being Sen. Joe Lieberman Gets Real on Pakistan, Libya, and the Arab Spring
Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman joined Imus today in wishing his former fellow Senator Chris Dodd, now head of the Motion Picture Association of America, a happy 67th birthday, despite the “rough patch” the two went through a few years ago.
“You had a rough patch when he stabbed you in the back,” Imus clarified, referring to Dodd, a Democrat, not endorsing Lieberman when he ran as an Independent in 2006. Disappointed that Lieberman wouldn’t “go there,” Imus lamented, “You’re not like us. You’re a decent human being.”
He’s also a fairly intelligent one, and explained the purpose of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s “surprise” trip to Pakistan. “It’s important she go there because for a very long time we’ve had this uncomfortable relationship with Pakistan,” he said. “Where we need them, we want them as allies…and they’re important to helping us resolve what’s going on in Afghanistan.”
The Pakistanis have, therefore, in some ways, been good allies. “On the other hand,” Lieberman began, “there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that at least parts of their intelligence service have also been supporting terrorist groups that have been attacking and killing certainly Afghans, and Americans, and Indians.”
In the wake of Osama Bin Laden’s death inside of Pakistan, and a subsequent suspicion that his presence within the country was no secret, Lieberman thinks now is the time to explain to Pakistan that it cannot play both sides. Trusting them is an obstacle in itself.
To this point, the United States has, as Imus put it, taken what it can get from Pakistan, and Lieberman believes it’s time to draw the line, and also to reconsider the nearly $3 billion in aid the U.S. gives Pakistan every year, if they continue to prove unreliable partners.
“The mood in Congress today, because of all the budget pressure on us, is if there’s not a good reason to be spending money, we are not to spend it,” Lieberman said. “So there’s going to be a move in Congress to either cut that amount of aid or fix it, make it conditional.”
As for other parts of the Arab world, where some uprisings over the last few months have been more peaceful than others, Lieberman impressed upon Imus the need for the U.S. to support what he said is “not just another bleep.”
“These are people breaking through, who want political freedom and economic opportunities,” he said of protesters in places like Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Syria. “What they’ve done is the most significant repudiation of Al-Qaeda and Iran that’s happened, because these are the people Al-Qaeda thought they’d have on their side.”
Revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia were less violent than those still occurring in Libya, where NATO forces have been trying to keep Col. Muammar Qaddafi from firing on his own people. “I’m glad we’re there, and I hope he wakes up, Qaddafi, and leaves town before too long,” Lieberman said.
The prospect that extreme groups could fill the power void in places like Egypt frightens some observers, like Imus, but Lieberman believes in the democratic process. “This is a whole new world breaking through,” he said. “It’s not going to be a straight line. Obviously there’s going to be competition between good guys and bad guys, and that’s why we’ve got to try to help the good guys succeed over there, because it will change the whole dynamic in that region.”
He added, “These people want to be more like America than they want to be like Pakistan or Iran.”
If you say so.
-Julie Kanfer
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