Sens. McCain, Lieberman Hawk It Up After Tour

Week-Long Tour of War Zones Ends With More Pro-War Speeches

by Jason Ditz, January 10, 2010

Senators John McCain (R – AZ) and Joe Lieberman (I – CT), two of the Senate’s premier war enthusiasts, wrapped up a whirlwind tour of America’s warzones and would-be warzones and have now transitioned to delivering one hawkish statement after another.

The two took turns in an interview on CNN praising President Obama for his hawkish stand on Afghanistan and predicting imminent victory (with Senator Lieberman citing the growing al-Qaeda presence in Yemen as proof that Afghanistan was going well), while chastizing the president for not taking even more hawkish positions in general.

In Pakistan, the two praised the ongoing drone strikes in Waziristan and condemning the civilian government for negative comments toward the drone escalation. At the same time, the two met separately with Pakistan’s military chief and said that they believe the Pakistani Army will soon invade North Waziristan, something the civilian government has bristled at with the army already committed to so many unpopular wars on America’s behalf.

They also lashed out at US special envoy George Mitchell for making comments about Israel’s loan guarantees, insisting that Congress would never tolerate any move to revoke any aid to the nation.

Sen. McCain also slammed Obama for not handing over the failed Christmas lap bomber to the military, even though he had never been to a US warzone and didn’t try to attack a military target. McCain insisted the man should not have access to a lawyer.

Sen. Lieberman, for his part, predicted that the Iranian government would soon collapse, and called on President Obama to throw even more support behind the opposition protests.

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