A Lieberman loss to challenger Ned Lamont in this week’s Connecticut primary could be a watershed moment for Democrats that might embolden the anti-war wing of the Democratic Party. It’s about time.

Even presumed 2008 frontrunner Hillary Clinton is getting the message, as her continued “triangulation” to come up with the best message translated into a testy exchange with Donald Rumsfeld as he testified before Congress this week, along with her subsequent demand for his resignation.

It’s time for Democrats to insist about the truth for Iraq. The truth is that Iraq may devolve into civil war, and according to some measures may already be there. The truth is that we didn’t do our homework about Iraqi history and culture before invading and we are now paying the price. The truth is that it is time to bring the troops home, not because we want to cut and run but because we need to cut our losses short.

We went into Iraq with arrogant notions of imposing Jeffersonian democracy. The people of Iraq are not like the American pilgrims and colonists of two centuries ago, who may have had their differences but were united in their desire for freedom from British oppression and agreed on principles of non-sectarian democracy. The Kurds, Shiites, and Sunnis of Iraq seem more interested in killing each other and preserving ethnic enclaves than they are in working together to implement foreign ideas about democracy. Islam itself is arguably incompatible with democracy as we understand it, for there is no separation of “church and state.” Islam is considered a way of life that cannot help but guide and inform government officials and decisionmaking. Our fundamental lack of understanding of another culture has led to the downfall of our enterprise in Iraq.

Republicans seem unwilling to tell the bitter truth about Iraq. If it takes a Lieberman loss to unite the Democrats, then so be it. It’s one thing to be bipartisan, it is quite another to facilitate the descent of our nation into a dunderheaded police state that invades first and asks questions later.

Tags: 2008-election, bush, democrats, hillary-clinton, iraq, iraq-civil-war, kurds, lamont, lieberman, muslim, republicans, shiite, sunni