Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Joe Lieberman offered his own take on the Senate's planned all-nighter on Iraq.

"To me," said the Connecticut senator, "the sad truth is that too many of my colleagues in the chambers are already asleep on this issue."

Lieberman, an independent Democrat, appeared at an afternoon press conference alongside Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, Arizona Sen. John McCain and other Republican leaders to criticize the Democrats' plan to keep talking throughout the night about Iraq.

The Democrats want a timeline for withdrawing most U.S. troops; tha plan, said Lieberman would "essentially legislate defeat."

He urged colleagues to reject such initiatives, saying they're very much what the enemy would want.

"The American military will never lose the war in Iraq," he said. "The war in Iraq will only be lost if we lose our political will."