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"I say it's high time to bring them (troops in Iraq) home to a hero's welcome," said victorious Lamont. (Reuters) |
WASHINGTON — Three-term US Senator Joseph Lieberman has lost primaries in Connecticut to win the Democratic Party's Senate ticket to a political newcomer, a defeat blamed on his staunch support for the US-led invasion of Iraq and close ties to President George Bush.
"Stay the course is not a winning strategy in Iraq and it is not a winning strategy in America," antiwar winner Ned Lamont told cheering supporters at a victory celebration, reported Reuters.
"Connecticut voters do not call for change lightly but today we called for change decisively. No more stay the course," added a victorious Lamont, 54.
He stressed that the time has come to "fix George Bush's failed foreign policy", vowing to push for withdrawing US forces in Iraq.
"I say it's high time to bring them home to a hero's welcome," Lamont told an audience chanting "Bring them home, bring them home."
A cohort of American experts told The New York Times on Sunday, August 6, that the Bush administration's Iraq strategy has failed and needs to be changed.
Some 2,591 US troops have been killed in Iraq since its invasion-turned-occupation in March 2003.
The Washington Post reported on Thursday, July 17, that many American soldiers were growing increasingly disillusioned about the Iraq war and their ability to succeed against an elusive enemy.
"Lapdog"
A jubilant Lamont has accused Lieberman of being a Bush "lapdog".
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The loss made Lieberman only the fourth incumbent senator to lose a primary since 1980. (Reuters)
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Lieberman — Al Gore's vice-president runner in the 2000 presidential elections —has been a staunch supporter to Bush's Iraq war.
He repeatedly argued that a quick pullout of troops "would be a disaster for Iraqis and for us".
Lieberman wrote a Wall Street Journal article last year headlined "Our Troops Must Stay" and warned Democrats about criticizing Bush on the war.
Critics targeted him also for his close ties to President Bush.
They played and replayed video of the kiss President Bush planted on Lieberman's cheek after the 2005 State of the Union address.
Loser Lieberman claimed he was "scapegoated" by his fellow Democratic lawmakers and influential opinion makers — including the New York Times, a onetime supporter.
"I am, of course, disappointed by the results, but I am not discouraged," he said while conceding his defeat.
The defeated Democrat Senator vowed to run for the November election as an independent.
The loss made Lieberman only the fourth incumbent senator to lose a primary since 1980.
"This primary would never have happened absent Iraq," The Times wrote last week as it endorsed Lamont in a scathing rebuke of Lieberman.
"He has become one of the Bush administration's most useful allies, as the president tries to turn the war on terror into an excuse for radical changes in how this country operates," the daily wrote.
It dismissed Lieberman as the Republican Party's "enabler" and Bush's "defender."
Lieberman's defeat has sent shockwaves among some of elder Democrats who stated backpedaling on their earlier support of the war lest they, too, run afoul of voters.
The Connecticut race attracted national attention as a referendum on the Iraq war and Democratic anger at Bush.
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