Media Deliberately Misquoting Lieberman on Iran
I'm no fan of Senator Lieberman but the media response to his statements that the US should conduct cross-border raids into Iran against attackers who are striking at US forces from there (similar to what Turkey is doing in Iraq) is a fantastic example of deliberately mis-characterizing what he said.
The media's distortions imply that Senator Lieberman called for bombing Iran, a US invasion of Iran or even a nuclear attack on Iran. Let's consider the CBS2 Chicago story headline "Lieberman: Bomb Iran If It Doesn't Stop". In fact what Lieberman was actually proposing was hitting terrorist training camps inside Iran.
Several headlines read, "Lieberman: US Should Weigh Iran Attack" and "Lieberman: US Should Weigh Iran Attack". Of all the papers, only Australia's Sydney Morning Herald got it right with "US should attack Iran base : Lieberman". The difference is pretty blatant.
This is what Senator Lieberman actually said.
Mr. Lieberman said he supported the high-level talks with Iran, but said,
"I think we've got to be prepared to take aggressive military action against the Iranians to stop them from killing Americans in Iraq... By some estimates, they have killed as many as 200 American soldiers."
"They can’t believe that they have immunity for training and equipping people to come in and kill Americans," he said. "We cannot let them get away with it.”
“I think we’ve got to be prepared to take aggressive military action against the Iranians to stop them from killing Americans in Iraq,” Mr. Lieberman said in an interview on the CBS News program “Face the Nation.”
This could be achieved mostly with air attacks, Mr. Lieberman said, adding, “I’m not talking about a massive ground invasion of Iran.”
This is roughly parallel to the US strikes against Al Queda terrorists in Somalia, Sudan and Yemen and elsewhere that take place outside of any war. Senator Lieberman has made a fairly moderate statement supporting negotiations but warning that if attacks from Iran continue, the US should be prepared to strike the terrorist camps.
Then why is the media inflating his statements to such a degree, especially when Lieberman is not the first Senator to make similar suggestions? Could it be in part because Senator Lieberman is a visibly Jewish Senator that painting him as a warmonger looking for a war in Iran suits the interests of the anti-war elements in the press?