Below I favorably note Sen. Carl Levin’s (D-MI) statement that he’s willing to start handing out subpoenas in the hearings he’s going to hold into the Pentagon’s conduct of the war in Iraq. I won’t deny for a second that there are hearings I’m looking forward to just to see some of the Bush administration’s crooks and incompetents get their comeuppance. This isn’t one of them.
Think how much might have been different if Congress had exercised any meaningful oversight role through any of this catastrophe. The level of irresponsibility, the lockstep indifference has been nothing short of depraved. Calling it an abdication of responsibility is like saying a murderer didn’t have enough concern for his victim’s health.
Even at this late stage in the game, there are basic dimensions of what’s going on in Iraq that we’re just clueless about. And I don’t mean the policy answers we can’t find. I mean, the facts about the conduct of the war that the administration — the ultimate unreliable narrator — just won’t share with the public or the Congress.
Consider: why did we have to wait for the ISG, the ultimate band of CFR foggies, to tell us that the US has been systematically undercounting the numbers of Iraqi dead? This is hardly the most shocking of the lies I’m sure we’re being told. But it does highlight the point. How can we find our way out of this mess if we’re left in the dark?
Former detainees will go to court today to hold Donald Rumsfeld responsible for the torture they endured. And guess what? Experts say the case isn’t such a long shot. That and other news of the day in today’s Daily Muck.
Happy Last Day of the 109th Congress!
Over at TPMmuckraker, it’s a day long celebration. Soon, we’ll be posting our tribute to the Congress that was a muckraker’s dream.
But first, are we finally going to get that long-promised report on the alleged Mark Foley cover-up today? Signs are… maybe.
House ethics committee to hold press conference at 2 PM today about its Mark Foley report.
The times, they are a-changin’. Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR), in a speech on the Iraq War last night:
“I, for one, am at the end of my rope when it comes to supporting a policy that has our soldiers patrolling the same streets in the same way, being blown up by the same bombs day after day. That is absurd. It may even be criminal.”
Early reports are in on the ethics report on Foleygate — and it’s a mixed bag.
According to the just-released House report, Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) was sent a copy of an IM conversation where Foley had inquired after an ex-page’s penis size. And when the scandal broke, he tried to keep the young guy quiet.
And no ethics rules were broken?
Update: More revelations from the report here.
Republicans spent nearly $40 million on House races in campaign’s final days. Didn’t win one seat; lost 29.
That’s something like $1.29 million spent per seat lost.