Senate Hearings on Iraq

Today, Senator Joe Biden opened up hearings on Iraq to "start a wider national dialogue on a potentially critical decision to go to war." Conveniently, as Voices in the Wilderness observed, "Not one of the invited participants represents a vigorous call for negotiation and dialogue instead of war."

After taking a peek at the roster of witnesses scheduled to testify, Justin Raimondo offered this comment:

I am sick unto death of our Western triumphalists, who hail "the end of history" and the supposedly unassailable virtues of "democracy" and "free markets." What friggin' hypocrites they are! Here we are about to go to war, and the Senate holds hearings on the subject – with not a single opponent of our war policy scheduled to testify! Oh, isn't democracy wonderful! Aren't you oh-so-glad that you live in the freest country in the world? Doesn't it make you swell with pride?

As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Joe Biden gets to largely pick the line-up of witnesses, albeit with input from the other members. "The senator believes it's time to start a wider national dialogue on a potentially critical decision to go to war," says Norm Kurz, Biden's communications director. "We need to educate the American public on the risks of both action and inaction on Iraq."

Pardon me while I go vomit….

There. I feel a little better, but not much. Kurz, and Biden, are liars: This isn't a "dialogue," it's a monologue, with only one side allowed to have its say.

And, as predicted, the first day of testimony made Saddam out to be a monstrous threat, someone who aims a dagger (maybe a nuclear one, too!) at our collective American heart.