The United States is fighting a prolonged war in Iraq. It isn’t a skirmish. It isn’t an exercise. War wasn’t declared by Congress, but that hasn’t mattered since World War II. Presidents simply deploy our precious firepower at will and in many cases end up getting us into a quagmire. I’m not ready to debate the war and I fully support our troops. I think anybody who doesn’t support these men and women hasn’t got a clue about the value of our freedom. The troops are putting their lives on the line for us.My problem is with our leadership, and I am not going to point just at the Oval Office. Today a story on CNN tells us about a new Hillary Clinton biography that reveals an interesting fact about our senators. The Washington Post reported this fact in 2004 but I wasn’t aware of the fact until today. I’m not sure why this fact isn’t plastered everywhere because it says something important about our “employees” in both the House and the Senate.
The Washington Post reported that 94 of our United States Senators did not read the classified National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq. Evidently anyone reading the report “had to go to a secure location on Capitol Hill.” It seems only six Senators and a handful of Representatives thought a document concerning our potential plummet into war was worthy of personal review. Folks, this is a bipartisan problem.
Some of those who want to defend their lack of attention say they were briefed on the report. Briefed? We are about to put thousands of our precious sons and daughters on the front lines and they are only worthy of a briefing. I’m sorry, but what are the American people paying these people in Washington to do? I’m sure most didn’t just get briefed on the potential legislation for their last pay raise. My Daddy always said “read the document before you sign the paper.”
Now that we have invaded Iraq and dug through the remains we discovered the report was incorrect. It is very possible that someone reading the report would be mislead. I think we have discussed the problem with the report and our pre-war intelligence problems thoroughly. The focus is not on the content, but on the idea that we never even considered the content.
I stand ready to hear the excuses. Who read the report? I have been searching for that answer. The story on CNN suggests that Senators Hillary Clinton and John McCain did not read the report. It also reveals Senator Christopher Dodd did not read the report. Both Senators John Edward and Joseph Biden claim to have read the report. I searched the Washington Post website and didn’t find the list of six.
But I did find a list of senators who voted against the “war resolution” on the Village Voice website:
Daniel Akaka (D-HI)
Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)
Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
Robert Byrd (D-WV)
Lincoln Chafee (R-RI)
Jon Corzine (D-NJ)
Kent Conrad (D-ND)
Mark Dayton (D-MN)
Dick Durbin (D-IL)
Russ Feingold (D-WI)
Bob Graham (D-FL)
Daniel Inouye (D-HI)
Jim Jeffords (I-VT)
Ted Kennedy (D-MA)
Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
Carl Levin (D-MI)
Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)
Patty Murray (D-WA)
Jack Reed (D-RI)
Paul Sarbanes (D-MD)
Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
Paul Wellstone (D-MN)
Ron Wyden (D-OR)
But if only six read the report, then many of these didn’t know what they were voting against. Maybe they just didn’t trust the CIA.
My only advice to the politicians and political commentators: don’t use this information against one side or the other. It seems most everyone was guilty. Don’t sling too much mud as it may come back and hit you in the face.
