UNITED STATES: US senator Joseph Lieberman, seeking to slip out of a perceived White House embrace, insisted yesterday he was a loyal Democrat and criticised the Bush administration's post-invasion Iraq war policy.
The 2000 vice-presidential candidate lost the Democratic primary vote in Connecticut to an anti-war rival this month, but is now running for re-election as an independent candidate in a contest that has exposed deep US divisions over the unpopular war.
The White House took the rare step of declining to back the Republican nominee, leading critics to accuse Mr Lieberman of becoming the de-facto candidate of Mr Bush.
Mr Lieberman, who according to a poll released last week now leads the Senate race in the Democratic-leaning state, said in an interview on CBS television that he was "devoted" to his party and would remain in its congressional caucus if elected.
"I am a Democrat. Look at my voting record - I voted 90 per cent of the time with the majority of Democrats in the US senate," he said.
He claimed his primary opponent, millionaire businessman Ned Lamont, had distorted his position on Iraq.
"What I mean is he made me into a cheerleader for George Bush on everything that's happened," he said.
Mr Lieberman reiterated his call for defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld to resign because of setbacks in Iraq and said that despite his own support for overthrowing Saddam Hussein, he believes Mr Bush has mishandled Iraq policy after the invasion.
"I've been very critical over the years, particularly in 2003 and 2004 about the failure to send enough American troops to secure the country."
But Mr Lieberman said there would be all-out civil war and a "disaster we will pay for a generation" if Washington sets a deadline for a troop withdrawal from Iraq.
"The position that my opponent and others take to set a deadline by which we will get out is the surest way to get to a civil war, which would be dangerous for our troops, a disaster for Iraq, the Middle East and for the United States".
- (Reuters)