Puffed Rice

Condoleeza Rice is nearly certain to be confirmed, if she hasn't been already. Some Democrats have to change their whole way of thinking. Many of them view that situation and think "We have nothing to gain by opposing this." But what they SHOULD be thinking is "We have nothing to lose."

Barbara Boxer gets that. To my surprise, Joe Biden seems to also.

"You sent them in there because of weapons of mass destruction. Later the mission changed when there were none," Boxer told Rice. "Let's not rewrite history, it's too soon to do that."

"It wasn't just weapons of mass destruction," Rice told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, saying former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein supported terrorism, attacked Kuwait and Israel and needed to be removed given the new U.S. threat perception after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.

Attacked Kuwait?

When the hell was that ever given as a justification? That was 12 years ago.

"Weapons of Mass Destruction" was the ONLY damned reason that Americans supported the military action in the first place. That's WHY Bush used it. If Bush had said "We have to go to war in Iraq because he attacked Kuwait 12 year ago" nobody but a handful of lunatics would given that a moment's consideration. The justification for this war has done nothing but shift, and the press has refused to make a big deal out of it.

"We can have this discussion in any way that you would like, but I really hope that you will refrain from impugning my integrity," Rice told Boxer. "I really hope that you will not imply that I take the truth lightly."

We really hope that you STOP taking the truth lightly. If you don't want people to impugn your integrity, demonstrate some.

Rice said she believed there were more than 120,000 trained Iraqi forces -- acknowledging problems of absenteeism and desertion -- but drew a quick rebuke from Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, who said he thought the number was closer to 4,000.

Bull's eye. Would anybody like to take a bet that the press won't do it's job, and point up such bald-faced lies, nor will they bother to check the facts and determine how many Iraqi troops actually HAVE been trained? I'll give you odds.

"We must use American diplomacy to help create a balance of power in the world that favors freedom," Rice told the committee. "And the time for diplomacy is now."

Biden shot back: "Despite our great military might we are in my view more alone in the world than we've been in any time in recent memory. The time for diplomacy, in my view, is long overdue."