So on it goes. Al Qaeda has "reconstituted its core structure" in Waziristan, and Osama bin Laden is releasing "new makeover" videos... yet the debate in Washington on 9/11/07 is about preserving our escalated occupation effort in the Iraq morass.
I guess we should review what Louisiana's junior Senator said last year about the Trillion Dollar War in Iraq, and compare it to more recent comments:
9/12/06:
[Sen. Vitter] called the next four to six months critical to determining whether the fragile government, which has been beset with ethnic squabbles, will survive.
...
Vitter said he was encouraged by a U.S. military-led campaign to quell the mounting violence in Baghdad, where murders reached an all-time high of 1,800 in July. He said anecdotal evidence suggested that the violence had dropped markedly.
9/11/07 TP:
Like most other Republicans, Vitter hailed the downturn in violence in Iraq's most troublesome quarters. While he expressed concerns over the pace of political progress, he said in a Senate floor statement Monday that he was encouraged that representatives of the three main tribal factions -- Kurd, Shia and Sunni -- had recently issued a joint statement about the nation's goals.
"I saw firsthand in Iraq something that is talked about quite openly, that is the challenge of matching political progress to the progress we are having in the military plan," Vitter said. "I met with both the Shia and Sunni vice presidents and saw firsthand the unfortunate lack of political progress. But there has been progress on this front since we came home."
Also, in addition to avoiding debate forums, Jindal continues to avoid the Iraq issue . Very sad. The TP reports:
Despite the all-day airing [of Gen. Petraeus' Iraq Surge progress report], Rep. Bobby Jindal, R-Kenner, declined to express an opinion. Support for the war has eroded dramatically over the past year and Jindal, polling first in the Louisiana governor's race, avoided taking a stand on the issue.
"Bobby looks forward to hearing Gen. Petraeus' continued testimony. Bobby continues to believe that it is important that we listen to the commanders on the ground guiding our troops -- instead of politicians -- when deciding the next steps in Iraq," according to Jindal spokesman Trey Williams.
Here are YRHT's previous "9/11" posts: The question I asked in my 2004 post still applies. My 2005 post is a version of an essay that was printed in the 9/11/05 Daytona Beach News Journal, describing my family's Katrina evacuation. The 2006 post is my personal "9/11" story, and a heartbreaking link at the Cunning Realist.
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Update: Via Kos, here's a clip of Sen. Feingold during the Iraq hearings.
Amen.
Labels: Iraq morass, Jindal, OBL, terrorists, Vitty-cent, YRHT
