One picture, one thousand words

In a helmet and flak jacket, Joe Lieberman sees progress in Iraq.

Published May 30, 2007 3:51PM (EDT)

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, on an unannounced visit to Iraq today, declares: "Overall, what I'd say I see here today is progress, significant progress, from the last time I was here in December. And if you can see progress in war, that means you're headed in the right direction."

Lieberman's status report comes two years to the day after Vice President Dick Cheney declared that we were seeing the "last throes" of the insurgency -- and roughly 18 months after Lieberman himself said he'd just seen "real progress" on a trip to Iraq.

Lieberman predicted then that there would be a "much smaller American military presence [in Iraq] by the end of 2006 or in 2007" if "all goes well." It didn't. Troop levels are up dramatically now, and May 2007 will soon go into the books as the deadliest month for U.S. soldiers in Iraq since November 2004.


By Tim Grieve

Tim Grieve is a senior writer and the author of Salon's War Room blog.

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Dick Cheney Iraq War Joe Lieberman War Room