Perspective on Biden's questioning of Dr. Rice

I listened to bits and pieces of Dr. Rice's testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations committee this past week. She is a very powerful woman, and will make a great Secretary of State (I do wish she would get rid of the crackly voice when under tension though). But, I was interested in three primary streams of questioning.

First - the "what mistakes did you make in Iraq to date", second, the "where the hell are the WMDs and had we known they weren't there, we never would have voted to go" line, and third the "just where do you stand on the torture issue". It seemed to me that all questioning by the "loyal opposition" descended to a level of political hackery that ultimately just pissed me off. So, I did a little research.

Joe Biden holds himself up as a "moderate" interested in what is best for the country. But, it seems that his feelings about Iraq have more to do with who is President than what will provide the most security for the US. I started my research with a simple google search: "senator biden transcript 1998 Iraq". Try it. It would seem that Senator Biden had much different feelings towards Iraq during the Clinton administration than during the Bush administration. For example, the transcript of Scott Ritter's Septermber 3, 1998 Senate testimony is quite eye opening. Search for Senator Biden's comments and see if you see a slight difference between the line of questioning during Dr. Rice's testimony and the September 1998 Scott Ritter testimony.

Senator Boxer then took up the mantra that the only reason we went to Iraq was because of the threat of nuclear weapons. Perhaps if she had read the October 2002 resolution that she had voted on, she would have not looked quite the fool.

And, finally, the torture. If I hear puppy piles of naked prisoners, pink panties on their heads, or dog leashes around their necks called torture one more time, Iwill vomit! Biden's question of Dr. Rice asking how she would feel if US prisoners were "water boarded" should have been answered like this: "Senator Biden, I would THANK GOD that the only thing done to them was that they were subjected to water boarding. They would still have their heads. Their bodies would not have been burned to a crisp. They would not have been dismembered or have their intestines spread all over the street. Yes, I would give thanks." Perhaps he could ask the Iraqi National Guard how they feel about torture. Oh, no, wait. You can't talk to them if their head in on their lap.


It is obvious that many in the Democratic party have put their hatred of Bush and the conservatives of the country ahead of our nation's security. You wonder how many will have to die before they realize we, the human race, are in a war for the survival of humanity.