Very Upsetting Story from Texas

I have always tried my best to give this administration and its staff the benefit of the doubt. But I have tried to be honest about its shortcomings. Even through the Blackwater fiasco, I tried. This story that I read about today is inexcusable. I'm going to post a link to a story that I read on ABC News.com via the Drudge Report today that makes me very sad and very angry. I can honestly say that I have never felt so let down as I do by the United States Departments of State and Justice. The legacy of former A.G. Gonzalez continues and a huge problem for which the Secretary of State must answer.

This is the kind of garbage that makes it difficult for our brave men and women overseas to do their job, to earn the respect of the world, and to earn the respect of the people and nations that they are serving. Iraq is a noble cause, but it has been so messed up by the present bureacracy and administration that I am embarrassed to have voted for them. I hope the story of this young woman leaves many people in Washington unable to sleep tonight. The screams of help from this young lady should ring in every politician's and Iraq contractor's head for a long time to come.

Rape Cover-up in Iraq reported by ABC News via The Drudge Report.

I've been very critical of the media throughout the Iraq War and I think it's more than justified. I think that very much has been made of very little. And I think that very little good has been reported of the abundance that has happened. But I do think that this story needs to be told--VERY LOUD, and VERY CLEAR. A young women named Jamie Leigh Jones deserves justice. It just goes to show that brutality is not only a quality of the extremists that our brave Soldiers and Marines are fighting. It is also a quality of a few who answer to no law in Iraq. Our goal should be to protect the innocent. It should not be used to shield the guilty.

Let me be clear. This - in no way - has anything to do with any group of people as a whole. Nor does this story have any relation to tactics used by the CIA in the questioning of terrorist suspects and enemy combatants. I do hope that leftist partisans do not try to draw this into the "torture" debate. But I am afraid that Harry Reid (political hack that he is) is going to blame the President and every other member of the Bush administration for every brutal detail. What is sad is that he might even get the support and sympathy of the media to go along with him. The administration is responsible for their inability to earn justice for this young lady. Only the men who perpetrated these actions (and possibly the company) are responsible for the crime.

KBR & Halliburton executives should be screaming from the rooftops for investigations and apologizing all over themselves. I am absolutely disgusted that these companies are American and continue to remain silent. The management of these companies verges on incompetency and its stockholders should be disgusted. If they are responsible for setting this culture in their organization, then they should also be punished to the full extent of the law. I would also hope that a free market would exercise its right to sell off their shares and/or replace the management if need be.

Am I speaking before I've heard all the facts? Yep. I hope I don't have to eat my words, but I could not keep silent on this.

My thoughts and prayers are with Jamie and her family.

mR

Picture Source: ABC News.com

One Equals Two

Nancy Pelosi among other of our fearless members of Congress decided on a recent fact finding trip to play diplomat to Syria, even delivering a message to the Syrians from Israel. Simple enough. One would think. Last time I read the Constitution the Executive Branch of the federal government was responsible for diplomacy and foreign policy. We'll I've been wrong before. She was chastised by the president for going and then by the Israelis for screwing up the message. Come to find out, our foreign policy is not to negotiate with terrorists or terrorist nations. Hmmm--Hamas, Hezbollah, terrorists sponsored by Syria.

It doesn't take a genius to realize that a single trip by democrat and republican lawmakers, led by the Speaker of the House, totally tried to reverse U.S. foreign policy. But it's OK, the 911 Commission said so. Huh?

Cut to this week....

Secretary Rice this week went to Egypt to an Regional "help us fix Iraq" conference which included diplomats from Iraq, Iran, Syria, and other nations. In the process, Rice did take the time to discuss Iraq issues with her Syrian counterpart.

OH MY GOSH! Condoleeza did the same thing that Nancy Pelosi did! You could see the left wing pundits turning red with excitement! Some of them even blogged about it. Some of them even spewed that crap all over cable news! Damn her! See--Republicans are doing it too!

Wait a minute....

Did I miss something? Last time I checked it was the Executive Branch's prerogative to change it's foreign policy when things weren't working. Didn't the State Department say a few months back that if paths crossed, then the U.S. would discuss specific issues with these terrorist states? You would think the gotcha crowd on the left had just found Deep-Throat. The difference is this--Secretary Rice is the chief diplomat for the United States. The president can approve or deny any action that the Secretary is going to do in reference to U.S. foreign policy. That is his/her job. Last time I checked, madame speaker's job was to keep the House of Representatives in order and work on legislation--not conduct foreign policy.

Next time maybe the speaker will realize that diplomacy on the professional level is best left to the professionals. She taught the Syrians and any future terrorist nation (i.e. Iran) a very dangerous lesson.

The Lesson:

If you want to talk with an Senior U.S. official and they aren't paying attention to you, all you have to do is open your borders to terrorists so that they can get into a country involved in a conflict with the United States to fight and kill American soldiers. All you have to do is continue to hold out long enough and keep your agents fighting long enough, keep sponsoring suicide bombings long enough and the Speaker of the House--third in-line to the presidency-- will make a personal appointment, listen to what you have to say, take a few photos with you, and legitimates your cause to the world, giving hope and life to your effort.

What I don't understand is that some Democrats and some Republicans just seem to be purposefully undermining this country's effort to do something good in this world. They can only be doing it because they are 1) ignorant of what they are doing, or 2) purposefully undermining this effort. To do this at a time when our soldiers and marines are in harm's way is unfathomable to me. Congressmen and women are elected to represent the people of the United States in the United States. Their place in this is in approving and denying funding and in confirming or denying the Secretary of State and other Executive Officers that represent us overseas. That's it, nothing less, nothing more.

Madame Speaker, we are weaker today because of you.