On Thin Rice
Condoleezza Rice, like the rest of the Bush Administration, wants more time. She wants Congress to ignore what's happening in Iraq now, and wait until some September date to make an assessment:
Of course, that will give Rice and Co. enough time to come up with yet another excuse as to why all of their predictions for a Glorious Iraq Utopia have fallen short. I have an idea: why not tie future money to these progress reports? Why not say, "Mr. President, you're not getting one red cent until all of Congress has seen and reviewed the latest report on Iraq, and have determined the level of progress made?"
I understand the idea that military decisions should be made by military people. But we're also talking about building a government and re-creating a society. That doesn't need the input of the US military, but it obviously needs US cash. And the American People shouldn't have give another dollar towards that cause until Congress can say they're satisfied with what has been done with our money so far.
Rice argued, for instance, that Baghdad has made headway in lowering the level of sectarian violence, pointing to “something that isn’t even on that benchmark list — the tremendous change in al Anbar province, where you have the sheiks, the local people, taking back their streets from al-Qaida.”
“I understand people’s concern. I understand people’s impatience,” she said. But Rice said “we ought to stick” to the troop build up strategy that President Bush announced in January, and wait until September when commanding Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker are scheduled to deliver a new assessment of conditions there.
Of course, that will give Rice and Co. enough time to come up with yet another excuse as to why all of their predictions for a Glorious Iraq Utopia have fallen short. I have an idea: why not tie future money to these progress reports? Why not say, "Mr. President, you're not getting one red cent until all of Congress has seen and reviewed the latest report on Iraq, and have determined the level of progress made?"
I understand the idea that military decisions should be made by military people. But we're also talking about building a government and re-creating a society. That doesn't need the input of the US military, but it obviously needs US cash. And the American People shouldn't have give another dollar towards that cause until Congress can say they're satisfied with what has been done with our money so far.
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