The headline Thursday morning from Iraq read: "Nearly 100 Killed in Baghdad During 24 Brutal Hours." That's what faced embattled Republican Rep. Chris Shays of Connecticut -- along with a plate of lukewarm scrambled eggs and a tableful of reporters at a press breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor....

By the end of an hour, it was clear to everyone that the war has reduced this 60-year-old, nine-term veteran of the House to a complete head case -- consumed by the convoluted efforts to square the circle of his own conflicting impulses.

Lieberman faulted the Bush administration for alienating potential allies in the war on terror, though he gave no examples of an administration miscue. He never mentioned the war in Iraq, a topic he intends to address with another policy speech....

While criticizing Bush, he effectively buttressed comments the president made Friday that the world remains a dangerous place.

Under attack for his support of the war in Iraq, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman gave a 25-minute national security speech Friday without ever mentioning that conflict, instead arguing that the broad threat of international terrorism demands a continued aggressive stance. He said Osama bin Laden was “free and fomenting hatred against the United States.”...

“It is wrong for some on the right to imply that some Democrats don’t care if the terrorists succeed, or that debating the merits of the president’s policies on the war on terrorism emboldens our enemies,” Mr. Lieberman said.

That kind of attack on people’s motives “divides and weakens us as a nation,” he said.

His remarks echoed President Bush's statements earlier this week on the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Lieberman's campaign called the speech a report on the war on terrorism and Islamic extremism.

Conspicuously absent from his 25-minute speech was any mention of the Iraq war, which the senator's critics, including many of his Democratic peers, argue has distracted from protecting the home front.