Lieberman Blasts Troop Pullout Timeline

Democratic Senate candidate Ned Lamont, right, talks with State Comptroller Nancy Wyman during a meeting with the Greater Manchester Young Democrats at Arthur Illing Middle School in Manchester, Conn., Thursday, Sept. 21, 2006. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill) (Jessica Hill - AP)

EAST HAMPTON, Conn. -- Sen. Joe Lieberman argued Monday that anti-war rival Ned Lamont's call for a troop withdrawal timeline in Iraq is "doomed to fail" and could leave the U.S. more vulnerable to terrorism.

"The clear choice before Connecticut's voters in this campaign is Ned Lamont's plan for giving up on Iraq and my plan for getting the job done there," Lieberman said in a speech at a Veterans of Foreign Wars post.

Lamont, who upset Lieberman last month in the Democratic primary, has contended the war was a major mistake that has diverted resources from the war on terror. He favors beginning to withdraw front-line troops from Iraq while maintaining U.S. forces in the region for support.

"The Lamont plan for immediate withdrawal and an arbitrary deadline is doomed to fail and weaken our security," said Lieberman, who is now running as an independent in a bid for a fourth term. "It will leave our troops more vulnerable to attack while they remain, and will leave Iraq to become a failed state and a terrorist breeding ground when we're gone."

Lieberman's speech came in the wake of reports about a new U.S. intelligence estimate that concludes the Iraq war has hurt the war on terror and made the U.S. less safe. Lamont and other Democrats have seized on the National Intelligence Estimate as proof the Bush administration and supporters such as Lieberman have blundered on the war.

"I think just staying the course, trying to make a military statement there, is just making the situation worse for the last 3 1/2 years," Lamont said at a campaign stop Monday in New Haven. Lieberman, he said, "wants more of the same. There are an awful lot of generals, and people in the intelligence community, that are agreeing with us."

Lieberman said the National Intelligence Estimate underscores his point that setting a deadline for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq would lead to chaos.

"It will only grow, that terrorist threat, worse if we follow the Lamont plan and rush our troops out to meet an arbitrary, politically preset deadline."

Lieberman said he agrees with Lamont that the U.S. strategy in Iraq has to change and a troop commitment should not be open-ended.

At the VFW post, Lieberman announced his new plan to help Iraq stand on its own and begin drawing down U.S. troops. At the top of his list was the replacement of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

"We need fresh, new leadership in this war," Lieberman said.

Debate over the war has dominated Lieberman's fight against Lamont, whose anti-war views helped propel him to victory in the Aug. 8 primary. Lamont has backed two Democratic Senate resolutions calling for a timeline: Sen. John Kerry's resolution called for a July 2007 deadline for removing all combat troops and another calling for troop pullouts to begin by the end of this year. Lieberman opposed the measures.

Lamont, however, said Monday that he was not committed to a July 2007 deadline to withdrawing troops. He said he agreed with Kerry's resolution that it should take about a year to put together a reasonable redeployment plan.

"I don't care whether it's six months, 12 months or 18 months," Lamont said. "What's important is you put in place a process. And you can't have a process as long as the (Iraqi) government thinks we're going to be there forever."