contrapositive

A QUESTION OF PRONOUNS This curious, near-delirious op-Ed from Sen. Joe Lieberman (CFL-CT) brings me back, somehow, to the opening sequence of Melvin Van Peebles' landmark Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, wherein:

A body has been found outside [a] brothel and two white cops want to temporarily haul someone into the pen to demonstrate to their boss they are making an effort to investigate the death. Sweetback is volunteered for this duty by the exploitative Uncle Tom brothel boss Beatle.

The [cops] detour on their way to the station, arresting a black militant called Moo Moo who they proceed to beat up. Sweetback has been handcuffed to the suspect, and gets in the way. The [cops] apologise to him, and undo the cuff chaining Moo Moo to Sweetback, leaving the restraint dangling from one of Sweetback's wrists.

Sweetback watches for a time as Moo Moo is worked over. Then he reacts instinctively, using the handcuffs as improvised knuckle-dusters, he bludgeons the two racist cops with them, alternating this with some swift kicks.

Once the [cops] have been beaten unconscious, Moo Moo addresses Sweetback with the words: "Thanks, man. Where we goin'?" To which Sweetback responds: "Where'd you get that 'we' shit?"

Okay, the analogy isn't perfect.

But where does Lieberman--after signing on enthusiastically for the Iraq adventure, after spending the last four years enabling the Bush Administration and backing its feeblest policies and most ridiculous, reality-warping pronouncements--get the temerity to write:

We cannot abandon these brave Iraqi patriots who have stood up and fought the extremists and terrorists.

Who's this 'we' he's talking about?