NPR's Robert Siegel interviewed Nancy Pelosi today on All Things Considered, and asked her questions about Congress' failure to bring about redeployment of our troops from Iraq, yet he took a pass on asking her serious questions.
Mr. Siegel asked Madame Speaker if she expects any change to occur in Iraq policy, and her answer is startling, in my opinion:
[Siegel] When I interviewed you at the beginning of January, you said the following: "The war in Iraq is the biggest ethical challenge facing America." It's nearly 10 months later. Would you concede that now, whether you like it or not, President Bush is going to get the Iraq policy he wants through the end of his presidency?
[Pelosi] President Bush is going to get a policy that is very destructive to the security of our country, that is destabilizing in the Middle East, and [that] is undermining our military capability, unfortunately. What President Bush has done is taken our nation on a course that is a catastrophic mistake. It's hard to exaggerate. I mean, you could never exaggerate the extent of the damage he has done to our reputation in the world and the capability of our military.
Madame Speaker then blamed the failure to bring about redeployment from Iraq on Senate processes, of all things:
[Siegel] But is it implicit in what you're saying that the Democratic majority gave it a good shot this year to try to change course and you didn't do it?
[Pelosi] We're still doing it. When the Democrats came into power, we came with a clear mandate from the American people for a new direction. Nowhere was that direction more clearly spelled out than in the war in Iraq. We put a bill on the president's desk that would have redeployed the troops out of Iraq within the next year. The president vetoed it.
Since then, we haven't been able to get a bill on his desk, because the Senate rules prevent that from happening. The American people aren't interested in the Senate rules; they're interested in ending the war in Iraq. And we will, again, continue to hold him accountable for the conduct of that war, and try to put on his desk legislation that calls for the redeployment of the troops within the next year.
Mr. Siegel might have asked Madame Speaker why it is, since Congress holds the power of the purse, the House doesn't just stop sending bills for anything other than safe, orderly redeployment in earnest and without further delay. Mr. Siegel could have asked Madame Speaker why she and House Dems just shovel more money which funds and fuels the continued death and dismemberment of our troops in Iraq. Full interview
Tavis Smiley also recently interviewed Madame Speaker, and dropped the ball in an identical manner. Tavis Smiley's interview
Where is NPR when you need it? This failure to question Madame Speaker about her own personal failure as a leader, to do that which results in redeployment, is akin to the media failure to question the existence of the WMDs, in my opinion. In the first two sentences of its ethics statement, NPR says, "NPR is primarily a news organization. We are always testing and questioning the credibility of others." NPR Code of Ethics and Practices Looks to me as if they take a pass on this standard when it comes to Madame Speaker.
Maybe kossacks would like to ask NPR why they are dropping the ball every time they get a chance to run with it. NPR contact page
Also, has anyone noticed that there is a total absence of discussion on NPR talk shows which focuses on how Congress can bring about redeployment of our troops from Iraq by refusing to advance any appropriations which do not accomplish the same? This is the most avoided subject since pre-invasion discussion of WMDs.