I watched a little of the beginning, and all of the end of Nightline's The Fallen. It was well done and it was not at all as partisan as some suggest. Certainly only a few minutes doubled my appreciation of the gravity of the war and the sacrifices our citizens, and others, are making there.
It makes me think of two things that need to change.
First, CSPAN should dedicate one whole channel to covering the war, whatever war or wars we are fighting, twenty-four hours a day. I'm not sure the coverage would be fair or balanced, but it would be a constant reminder that we have people in the field. I hate the fact that I get a mail from CNN telling me ten more soldiers were killed and turn on the radio only to hear more about the latest Hollywood scandal. The government wages war, lets let them tell us about it every hour of every day.
Second, it should be the decision of more than one person to go to war. Yes, Bush did go to the Congress to get approval, but he actually didn't have to for the first 30-60 days of the war. It's a cold war policy that the Commander and Chief can go to war on his own volition for a brief period and then go to Congress for consent later. I think there should be a council of four, one each from the executive, the House, the Senate and the Supreme Court. Who would all decide on the President's plan to go to war. They could meet in private and in secret, but records would be taken and published later. After we are at war it would be exclusively the responsibility of the Commander and Chief to conduct the war. In this world, one man having the ability to wage war anywhere for any reason, is too much power.
Yes, the Congress approved the war, but I believe they were misled by bad intelligence. Intelligence that they did not genuine complete access to. For example, one draft of the resolution specifically sited the uranium deal in Africa. Which we now know was completely discredited. I believe if there were a small group of four people upon whose shoulders the ultimate responsibility of the war fell, it would be very hard to convince them. Much harder than the political herd of the Congress.
Back to The Fallen. It was an excellent show. But I'm sure the folks in St. Louis were just as happy with their episode of Dharma and Greg. Mmmm, chewy pabulum. Moo.
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