Bamboozled again!

As the administration spends much of its time focusing on the quagmire in Iraq, in Afghanistan the ranks of the Taliban have grown by an estimated 10,000 members — many from our “ally” Pakistan. There have been 90 suicide attacks in Afghanistan in 2006 and nearly 100 people have been killed there in the last two months according to the New York Times.

And still Republicans insist on referring to Iraq as “the central battlefront in the war on terror.” Senator Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, said that he adamantly opposes any withdrawal of troops from Iraq. Senator John McCain, R-Arizona, is actually calling for an increase in troops.

The much-anticipated Baker Commission — thought to be the promise of a real strategy if not an exit plan — seemed to have been dismissed by President George W. Bush. The commission’s satellite discussion today with UK Prime Minister Tony Blair seemed more like a celebration of video conferencing technology than a serious discussion of a war that is killing hundreds of people a day.

Those on the other side of the aisle aren’t much better in spite of promises from the Democrats to put principle before politics. Less than a day after Speaker of the House-elect Nancy Pelosi, D-California, announced Rep. John Murtha, D-Pennsylvania, as her choice for Majority Leader, a twenty-six-year-old videotape of Mr. Murtha refusing a bribe appeared on the evening news.

So instead of looking for solutions on Iraq and Afghanistan, the Democrats are already at each other’s throats. This infighting costs the new majority and will likely lead to a loss of direction.

Add to this mess the promise of many members of the new leadership not to conduct hearings and investigations and it looks like the electorate got bamboozled again.

Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen said it best “…it would be … exhilarating if the new Democratic majorities evinced a similar moral indignation. Instead of reassuring the administration's serial fibbers that they will not be required to answer for their statements about Iraq, they should instead be vowing to take apart the ship of state plank by plank until they find the rot -- not impeachment, mind you, just accountability.

“This is not a matter of vengeance or, God forfend, politics, but of restoring the people's faith in their government. How dare these people lie to you and me and send Americans to die in Iraq for reasons that turned out to be wholly nonexistent?”

Meanwhile, the BBC reported today that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is being sued in a German court for his role in the detention of suspected terrorists.

"The complaint was filed by the US-based Center for Constitutional Rights on behalf of a Saudi man held in Cuba and 11 Iraqis held in Baghdad," the BBC story said.

Of course this story didn't make the evening news. I wonder what gives.