Washblog

  Representatives from Brian Baird's office come to Raymond in a once a month kind of town hall, but Brian himself does not usually come.  We have been to one of those before, left our concerns about Iraq war and advised we have 2 returning Iraq veterans, both from WA state.  Although we are assured the information will be passed along to Brian, it's hard to know if it actually is passed along.

  Those monthly 'town hall meetings'are usually held at Raymond City Hall, so that this one is being held in different location and at Raymond High School, perhaps Brian will be attending.  

  Arthur's letter to editor regarding Brian Baird's shift in position were published this week in the weekly Chinook Observer that is the 'official' newspaper for Pacific County per it's own advertising (Chinook Observer has subscribers also in Astoria, Oregon); also in Pacific County Press in South Bend, WA and I don't think Daily World in Aberdeen published his submission, although they usually do publish his submissions.  

Brian Baird has not denied that his recent visit to Iraq was a controlled dog-&- pony show. Other representatives also recently returned and openly complained about manipulated infomercials passing as the facts on the ground. So too a few courageous troops. (Google Alex Horton,  Army of Dude)
U.S.  Rep Ellen Tauscher (D) California, also been to Iraq more times (4) than Baird.   This time upon her return Tauscher declared,

"... when you get in the Green Zone, there is a physiological phenomenon I think called Green Zone fog.. It's death by powerpoint. It's always that their argument is winning."  (Google Tauscher)

The bigger point is that any process in Iraq is not merely American "Custers" chasing "insurgent"  Sioux around and around. Maj. Gen. Batiste (Google Batiste) says that the process includes a  4-legged stool of diplomacy, political reconciliation, economic recovery, and the military.

Baird's version of the pottery-barn theory doesn't seem to understand that the military leg has been way overdone.

We broke it. We fix it - all 4 legs. We stop hitting Iraq and breaking things with our military hammer. We've over-used the hammer.

A few wise politicians know this.  They're not the ones currently talking like Brian Baird.

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Arthur Ruger
aruger@gmail.com

PO Box 335
Bay Center, WA 98527

"The bar for success (in Iraqi)is so low that it is almost buried in the sand." Barack Obama, Sept 12, 2007

by Lietta Ruger on Wed Sep 19, 2007 at 08:09:08 AM PST

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