Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=4/26/2004

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=U-S / CONGRESS / IRAQ (L-O)

NUMBER=2-315387

BYLINE=MEREDITH BUEL

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

INTRO: A prominent member of the U-S Senate is warning that the sometimes bitter debate within the United States over the war in Iraq and the continuing violence there is hurting efforts to turn the country into a stable democracy. Senator Joseph Lieberman's remarks came during a speech in Washington and correspondent Meredith Buel has details.

TEXT: Senator Lieberman, a former candidate earlier this year for the Democratic presidential nomination and his party's vice-presidential candidate in 2000, asked America's political leaders to tone down their rhetoric about Iraq.

/// LIEBERMAN ACT #1 ///

I am calling this morning for a bi-partisan, political truce on the home front that will greatly help us achieve the victory we all desire on the battlefront.

/// END ACT ///

Senator Lieberman points out that most members of Congress agree with President Bush that Iraq needs to be secure and can become a shining example of democracy in the Middle East.

Senator Lieberman says virtually all of America's elected political leaders support winning what he calls the "new" war in Iraq.

/// LIEBERMAN ACT #2 ///

There is a real, but unfortunately too often overlooked or concealed bi-partisan, American consensus in favor of this new war. We agree on the goal, if not always on the way to get there. Unfortunately you wouldn't know that if you just listen to much of the rhetoric about Iraq in this great capital city whose prevailing tone these days ranges from partisan to poisonous.

/// END ACT ///

Senator Lieberman was a strong supporter of President Bush's decision to go to war against Saddam Hussein.

He says the continuing, sometimes rancorous debate over that decision and what has happened since the end of major combat operations is offering encouragement to America's enemies.

/// LIEBERMAN ACT #3 ///

My point here is that the home front affects the battlefront. Politics as usual at home can and will have unusually bad consequences in Iraq. It does encourage our enemies to believe they are succeeding in their attempts to influence our policy. They clearly, by their own statements, seek by their hostage taking, by their desecration of the bodies of our dead, by their terrorism to divide and break the will of the people of America.

/// END ACT ///

Senator Lieberman called on President Bush and Congressional leaders to create a bi-partisan council that would hold frequent meetings to discuss developments and decisions in Iraq.

He says members of the council could travel throughout the world to meet with leaders and engage in dialog about America's goals for Iraq.

Mr. Lieberman says such a group could help achieve consensus on policy decisions before they become what he called "open, domestic political wounds with international consequences." (Signed)

NEB/MB/RH/KBK