Say Anything Blog

Nancy Pelosi has been busy setting the rhetorical table for the upcoming Congressional showdown over General David Petraeus’ testimony saying that she hopes the General doesn’t make a big deal over the recent conflict in Basra:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) warned Army Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker on Thursday not to “put a shine on recent events” in Iraq when they testify before Congress next week.

“I hope we don’t hear any glorification of what happened in Basra,” said Pelosi, referring to a recent military offensive against Shiite militants in the city led by the Iraqi government and supported by U.S. forces. . . .

Although powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr agreed to a ceasefire after six days of fighting, Pelosi wondered why the U.S. was caught off guard by the offensive and questioned how the ceasefire was achieved, saying the terms were “probably dictated from Iran.”

TigerHawk responds:

So, the senior Democrat in our national government acknowledges that Iran is waging a proxy war against the United States and the government of Iraq, and yet believes (i) it is in our national interest to cede Iraq to the Islamic Republic and (ii) the United States has no casus belli against Iran. And that the one American general who has shown some capacity for counterinsurgency needs to be warned against any suggestion of victory, tactical or otherwise.

This all makes a lot more sense when you consider that the Democrats aren’t so much after sound foreign policy in Iraq as they’re out to force a defeat there to embarrass Republicans.