Lieberman Rates Other Pols On Iraq

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Lieberman on Monday faulted President Bush for a lack of planning for a post-Saddam Iraq while he assailed his rivals for opposing the conflict, saying, "they don't know a just war when they see it."

Critical of his foes for the party nomination but reticent to name names, the Connecticut senator defended his strong support for U.S.-led military action, arguing that 12 years of Saddam Hussein's brutal regime warranted the military campaign to oust him.

"Congress did the right thing in authorizing the war," Lieberman said in a Capitol Hill speech.

He expressed concern about his foes "disquieting zeal" in seizing on questions of shaky U.S. intelligence that Bush used to justify the war and the inability of coalition forces to find weapons of mass destruction, particularly those who supported the war and then have forgotten.

But he also criticized the Bush administration for its lack of preparedness in dealing with postwar Iraq and its distortion of intelligence.

Earlier, in an appearance on NBC's "Today" show, Lieberman said the U.S. military didn't move quickly enough to secure sites where weapons of mass destruction were being made.

"Some of them may have have been moved out on the market and may be moving around," he said. "We did not prepare to bring the Iraqis into control of their own government more quickly."

Another Democratic presidential aspirant, Sen. John Edwards, said he thinks the administration has failed to sufficiently involve the international community in the reconstruction of Iraq.

The North Carolina Democrat, who supported a resolution in the Senate backing the war effort, said the United States should "re-engage with the international community" by seeking assistance from NATO, the European Union and the United Nations.

"All these things are good ideas," Edwards said on CBS News' "The Early Show," because such among other things would relieve "some of the burden" on America's fighting men and women.

Lieberman also said he thought the administration's decision to send a retired American oil company executive to run the oil industry and to send American officials to run the country "gave the impression that we were an occupying power, not a liberating power."

He, too, said that the administration should overcome its anger at European allies who opposed the war and moved quickly to recruit NATO forces to help secure Iraq after the initial military success.

Some of Lieberman's Democratic rivals, especially Howard Dean, have taken a strong anti-war stance that has excited party activists. But some Democratic moderates fear that anti-war stance may not play well in the general election.

Lieberman planned to talk more about his concerns about Iraq and the stance of Democratic rivals during a morning news briefing in the Capitol.

While Lieberman has been lagging in polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, he said he feels good about where his campaign is at this point, and said: "it's early and most Americans are not focused on the race."