From today's
AJC Political Insider:
This ain't Al Gore talking here: Bob Barr joins those raising questions about Iraq
There are all kinds of political barometers. Right now, the most popular is the price of a gallon of gasoline.
We prefer the human kind. For instance, Bob Barr.
Since leaving office 18 months ago, the former Cobb County congressman has split with Republican orthodoxy on a number of issues -- the constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage is only one of them. But until Friday, Barr was content to restrict his post-9/11 criticisms of the Bush administration to the Patriot Act -- on constitutional grounds.
In an op-ed piece published in the conservative Washington Times, Barr expressed a far deeper worry over affairs in Iraq and compared the current situation to the Tet Offensive in 1968 Vietnam:
"The Abu Ghraib prison scandal has left many observers with the impression -- accurate or not -- that our chain of command is disjointed, our troop discipline falling apart and the coordination of our military and civilian (read, "intelligence") effort nonexistent. The impression is rampant, especially on the front pages of many newspapers, that our government is no longer in control of our own side (much less the enemy).
"Where is Paul Bremer, ubiquitous when a success is to be heralded yet hardly seen in recent weeks? Where are the symbols of our unity and resolve? A hurried trip to Baghdad by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in an obvious effort to shore up sagging morale (which only highlighted that morale was sagging)? Hardly the stuff of substance. The beheading of civilian Nick Berg? While many questions remain surrounding this incident, its fault clearly cannot be laid at the feet of the U.S. Yet, it remains another Page 1 news story seeming to scream at the reader, 'Events are controlling us, not we them.'
"The latest headline story contributing to the notion Iraq is in disarray just five weeks before the date of the 'transfer' of 'power' to the Iraqis, is that involving Ahmed Chalabi. This story on the surface appears favorable to the American effort -- the investigation of alleged corruption in the Iraqi Governing Coalition in advance of the June 30 'transfer.'
"In fact, however, it raises a host of new questions about our effort. Most importantly, do we even know what's going on?
"Until recently, Mr. Chalabi was America's fair-haired boy; the darling of the neoconservatives who, also until recently, rode high atop President Bush's soaring poll numbers (but many of whom now, if not jumping ship, are at least donning life vests).
". . . We should be thankful George W. Bush does not appear to have become immobilized by self-doubt and uncertainty as [was] Johnson in 1968 (if anything, Mr. Bush may possess a tad too much self-righteousness).
"However, the president's recent speech to the Army War College was far too thin on specifics, and far too vague a road map, with which to put to rest the country's doubts about our post-'mission accomplished' strategy. Those doubts, now surfacing with increased frequency and boldness, can eat away at a presidency as surely today as they did 36 years ago."