Hi Shelley - interesting column this
week! I understand your point, and to some extent agree that
we are all on the same team and need to play together. But - at the risk
of sounding liberal - I have to reply about Nancy Pelosi’s trip.
She is the leader of a co-equal
branch of the US Government - same as the President. The Executive branch
of government is equal to the Congressional one - not above or below. So
- as the leader of that part, she is entitled to make the decision to follow the
guidelines of the Iraq Study Group that recommend multilateral diplomacy
with Iraq and it’s neighbors - including Iran and Syria - as a way of promoting
stability in the region. This group was headed up by James Baker, George
Bush Sr’s Secretary of State - so it’s not like it’s a “liberal” versus
“conservative” thing. As a matter of fact, during the first Gulf War, the
Bush administration working with
She is doing her job - and I
believe is doing it well. The Constitution requires Congress to
participate in both domestic and foreign policy decisions. And her decisions to follow the bi-lateral recommendations, to me, is
commendable. I’m glad that someone in the government took the ISG
recommendations seriously. We can fight the war on one front, but to
ignore diplomacy - even with “terrorists” - is to never be able to get to the
root of the problems and resolve them. Sometimes, the pen is, in fact, mightier
than the sword.
Anyway - hopefully this country
is big enough to allow a difference of opinion - even when the different
opinion is not exactly popular, or our own.
Keep up the great stuff,
Shelley - you are an excellent writer!
Love you,
Dan Majors