The Storm before the Calm

I am going out of town for a week of vacation and wanted to get one final post in before my departure. Here, I’ll simply point you in the right direction to learn more about two stories.

First up is the continuing mess in Iraq. As you know, a new funding bill for the war was passed by Congress last year and signed into law by President Bush. Instead of including a fixed timetable for withdrawal of American troops, or even the promise of withdrawal if fixed objectives are not met, it included a series of benchmarks, first put forward by the President in January, for the Iraqis. These benchmarks are a sham, with no punishment in the offing if they are not met. Moreover, it is the President who will make the determination as to their completion. Normally, I’d simply laugh in frustration at the idea of the Bush Administration policing itself. Here, however, I don’t have to suffer this because the Iraqis have already announced that none of the benchmarks will be met. Of course, this should surprise no one because none of the original benchmarks put forth by the Administration, but not previously written into law, had been met either. And yet, we are still asking our young people to die every day.

The second involves the testimony of Bradley Schlozman before Congress regarding the ever-unfolding scandal at the Department of Justice. Schlozman has been fingered for a key – indeed perhaps the key – role in the illegal politicization of the DoJ. Much of Schlozman’s testimony was contentious, even hostile. It was also downright unbelievable. Whereas other DoJ officials, including Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, have played the “I don’t remember” card in their testimony, Schlozman made many unequivocal statements, some of which might already be coming back to bite him on the ass. (Funny how lying to Congress will do that to you, no?) For details, check out these stories by Josh Marshall and Laura McGann.