I saw an interview with Pelosi where she commented that the only reason terrorists have to be in Iraq is that we're in Iraq, implying that we should just leave.
You have put your finger, in one sentence, on the only two things that worry me about the 110th Congress. First is Pelosi. I do not like Pelosi, and two days after the election, I have a concrete reason why. Read the Wikipedia page on Alcee Lamar Hastings and ask yourself why this former judge, impeached by a Democratic Congress for bribery and corruption, would make a good chairman for anything, much less the intelligence committee? This, after Democrats swept into power in the wake of massive Republican corruption.
This is one of those things that I raally, really sincerely hope is something that the Washington press circuit whipped up out of some casually misinterpretted remark; but in general, even beyond that, I do not think Pelosi matches most newly elected Democrats in politics or style.
Second is what you say about the war. Part of this is structural: Congress, antagonistic or supportive, has very few and very blunt tools to affect the prosecution of a war. Once they've voted for it, Congress is pretty limited to funding or not funding, declaring peace, or in the modern age, going through endless rounds of distracing hearings, which effectively kills all foreign policy, everywhere. What they can't do is say, "No, dumbass, do it this way," and make it stick. (Well, they can try to impeach, but aside from legal details this does more harm than good anyway.) Unfortunately, every bureaucratic bone in my body screams that the endless investigation route, leading to paralysis, will actually make things worse, not better. So will packing up and leaving.
My only quibbles with what you wrote are:
1) The Iraqi infrastructure was shitty before we got there, and the average Iraqi did not have 24/7 electricity or clean water. No one heard about it because the small subset of people who cared were prevented from hearing about it by that government itself. The man started war after war after war and got his ass kicked on a regular basis.
2) I don't trust the intel community to do their jobs, and it's not a political statement, it's a statement of historical record. Since the opening of the Korean War, what are their notable successes? I can name a string of stunning failures from 1950 to 2005.
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Date: 2006-11-09 04:21 pm (UTC)You have put your finger, in one sentence, on the only two things that worry me about the 110th Congress. First is Pelosi. I do not like Pelosi, and two days after the election, I have a concrete reason why. Read the Wikipedia page on Alcee Lamar Hastings and ask yourself why this former judge, impeached by a Democratic Congress for bribery and corruption, would make a good chairman for anything, much less the intelligence committee? This, after Democrats swept into power in the wake of massive Republican corruption.
This is one of those things that I raally, really sincerely hope is something that the Washington press circuit whipped up out of some casually misinterpretted remark; but in general, even beyond that, I do not think Pelosi matches most newly elected Democrats in politics or style.
Second is what you say about the war. Part of this is structural: Congress, antagonistic or supportive, has very few and very blunt tools to affect the prosecution of a war. Once they've voted for it, Congress is pretty limited to funding or not funding, declaring peace, or in the modern age, going through endless rounds of distracing hearings, which effectively kills all foreign policy, everywhere. What they can't do is say, "No, dumbass, do it this way," and make it stick. (Well, they can try to impeach, but aside from legal details this does more harm than good anyway.) Unfortunately, every bureaucratic bone in my body screams that the endless investigation route, leading to paralysis, will actually make things worse, not better. So will packing up and leaving.
My only quibbles with what you wrote are:
1) The Iraqi infrastructure was shitty before we got there, and the average Iraqi did not have 24/7 electricity or clean water. No one heard about it because the small subset of people who cared were prevented from hearing about it by that government itself. The man started war after war after war and got his ass kicked on a regular basis.
2) I don't trust the intel community to do their jobs, and it's not a political statement, it's a statement of historical record. Since the opening of the Korean War, what are their notable successes? I can name a string of stunning failures from 1950 to 2005.