Joe Lieberman: “I rise to respectfully speak against the amendment offered by my colleague from Virginia. Let me put this in context, as…”

“I rise to respectfully speak against the amendment offered by my colleague from Virginia. Let me put this in context, as I see it. One week ago, the commander of our military forces in Iraq and our top diplomat in Baghdad returned to Washington to address the Members of this Congress. What General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker offered us last week was not hype or hyperbole but the facts. They offered us the facts. What we heard from them was reality--hard evidence of the progress we have at last begun to achieve over the past 8 months--progress against al-Qaida, progress against sectarian violence, progress in standing up the Iraqi Army, progress that all but the most stubborn of ideological or partisan opponents now acknowledge is happening. What we also heard from General Petraeus last week was a plan for the transition of our mission in Iraq which he has developed, together with our military commanders on the ground, that builds on facts on the ground, not on opinions over here, that builds on the successes our troops have achieved on the ground which will allow tens of thousands of American troops to begin to return home from Iraq starting this month. So the question now before the Senate is not whether to start bringing some of our troops home. Everyone agrees with that point. Beginning this month, some of our troops will be coming home.”