McCain - Senator Joe Lieberman On "Fox News Sunday"

"Look, the fact is that if Barack Obama's policy on Iraq had been implemented, Barack Obama couldn't go to Iraq today. It wouldn't be safe. Barack Obama, John McCain saw the same difficulty in Iraq. John McCain had the guts to argue against public opinion, to put his whole campaign on the line because as he says he'd rather lose an election than lose a war that he thinks is this important to the United States." -- Senator Joe Lieberman

Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT)
Fox News' "Fox News Sunday"
July 20, 2008

Senator Joe Lieberman: "Senator McCain and I and others want us out of Iraq sooner rather than later, but want us out in a way that does not compromise all the gains that American and Iraqi forces have made in Iraq, which Admiral Mullen spoke to. And frankly, we want to stay there to a victory because we don't want all those who have served in the American uniform there to have served, or in some cases died, in vain. Remember this Chris, we wouldn't be having this discussion about how to get out unless the surge, which John McCain courageously fought for taking on the president of his own party, popular opinion, risking his campaign, and which senator Obama opposed, worked. So that's the good news.

"I think everybody -- that is Prime Minister Maliki, President Bush, people like John McCain and I -- agree the sooner we are out the better. It has to be based on the conditions on the ground. Senator Obama doesn't seem to feel that way. It looked like he did a little bit after the primaries were over but then he was pushed by MoveOn.org and others on the anti-war left of the Democratic party back to a rigid timeline."

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"The fact is that if Barack Obama's policy on Iraq had been implemented, Barack Obama couldn't go to Iraq today. It wouldn't be safe. Barack Obama, John McCain saw the same difficulty in Iraq. John McCain had the guts to argue against public opinion, to put his whole campaign on the line because as he says he'd rather lose an election than lose a war that he thinks is this important to the United States. The reason I say ... if Barack Obama's policy in Iraq had been implemented he couldn't be in Iraq today, is because he was prepared to accept retreat and defeat and that would mean today Al Qaeda would be in charge of parts of Iraq, Iranian-backed extremists would be in charge of other parts of Iraq. There'd be civil war and maybe even genocide. And the fact is that we are winning in Iraq today. And, you know, you can't choose, as Senator Obama seems to think, to lose in Iraq so you can win in Afghanistan. The reality is if we lost in Iraq, whi ch Obama was prepared to do, we -- we would go to Afghanistan as losers."

Watch Sen. Joe Lieberman.