Prior to leaving for its two-week spring break, the US House of Representatives was not able to consider a resolution condemning Iran for taking 15 British hostages. The Senate passed a resolution of condemnation, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi did not let a similar resolution come to a vote in the House.Pelosi's press secretary had this to say about the failure to introduce the resolution:
The leadership discussed it and agreed that inserting Congress into an international crisis while ongoing would not be helpful.
Shortly thereafter, Speaker Pelosi flew off to the Middle East to insert herself into an international crisis.
At least the whole Congress wasn't involved, I guess...
Do you think her insertion was "helpful"?
5 comments:
And what would be the purpose of such a resolution?
Congress wastes an incredible amount of time on meaningless, posturing resolutions.
This whole thing is a manufactured "controversy" that only serves to highlight the hypocrisy of the GOP.
The president and the State Department were both informed of Speaker Pelosi's trip before she left and made no objection.
More here from John Kerry:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-kerry/supporting-speaker-pelosi_b_45498.html
Elizabeth,
They wouldn't have had to spend very much time on this one, and it seems much more appropriate to spend time on one of its actual constitutional responsibilities (providing for the common defense) than on some of the garbage they spend their time on.
Richard,
Interesting. I wouldn't put that below Bush's dignity. In other words, if he didn't object at the outset, I'm not surprised that he used it later for a photo-op.
With regard to Kerry's statement that Specter had been there 18 times since 1984, how long has Syria been on the terrorist list?
This story is pretty interesting about what the Reform Party of Syria thinks about Pelosi's visit.
I wouldn't put too much stock in the State Dept's "terrorist" list. We have allies such as Pakistan that basically support terrorism and Saudi Arabia that encourages fundamentalism and at the same time, corruption and oppression, a mixture that creates terrorists. We ignore gross human rights violations all over the world. The "terrorist" label seems to be pretty arbitrary to me.
In general, you're right. But in the context of the current "International Crisis" I think the United States should air its dirty laundry in Washington D.C.
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