MOQTADA AL-WAXMAN VS. THE HOLLYWOOD HEARTTHROB
If the folks in Hollywood didn't allow their rabid hate-America passions to overcome the functioning of their business brains when they watched the Blackwater hearings in Congress yesterday (10/02)*, they must have been transfixed by Blackwater CEO Erik Prince and seen nothing but dollar signs.
It was a scene straight out of a movie. The witness was straight out of central casting – Hollywood handsome, all-American clean-cut wholesome, a rawhide-tough former Navy SEAL who can easily think faster and smarter than anyone in the room.
Up against him was a collection of Democrat contributors to Congress' record low 11% approval rating, determined to demonstrate how they earned such public disgust, and led by that quintessence of corruption, Henry Waxman (D-CA), whose eyes bulging out of his sockets and huge buck teeth bulging out of his mouth below his hairy lips make him look like a creepy rat.
Hollywood casting again.
Prince easily batted away the Dems' sophomoric attempts to smear Blackwater. It was almost too easy, as Congresslady Carolyn Mahoney (D-NY), and Congressistas Elijah Cummings (D-MD), Danny Davis (D-IL), and most pathetic of all, Dennis Kucinch (D-OH) evinced an eerie desire to flaunt their two-digit IQs.
This is neither hyperbole nor sarcasm. The plain-as-day stupidity of these Congressional Inquisitors should be truly frightening for anyone with a regard for our democracy. Watch the video and see for yourself.*
It was not just the questions, it was the context. Since the Justice Dept. told them not to ask about what they really wanted to smear Blackwater on**, the one single incident the Dem Inquisitors could zero in on was an off-duty Blackwater guard who had too much to drink at a Baghdad Christmas Eve party, and ran into an off-duty Iraqi guard with whom he got into an argument. There was a gunfight and the Blackwater guy won.
It was a lethal personal fight to which there were no witnesses. Blackwater immediately reported the incident to Justice Dept. authorities in Baghdad and fired the fellow. The Inquisitors made a cause célèbre out of it as the Iraqi guard's day job was bodyguarding the Iraqi Vice-President – and pretended as if the Blackwater fellow shot him while he was on the job.
"Imagine how we would react if someone shot a Secret Service agent guarding Vice President Cheney," sneered Waxman.
Cummings followed this up by denouncing Blackwater guards as "mercenary forces" with "a culture of shoot first and sometimes kill."
Here's how stupid all of this is: On any "fact-finding" CO-DEL (Congressional Delegation) visit to Iraq these Inquisitors make, their very lives will be dependent on the Blackwater guards they are condemning.
They wouldn't dare trust their lives to anyone less competent. Blackwater's record in guarding the lives of State Department, Congressional, and other American civilian officials in Iraq is perfect. Perfect. From 2004 to the present, Blackwater has run over 16,000 guarding missions in Iraq without a single protectee killed or wounded.
If you watch Erik's face closely (the hearing was broadcast on C-SPAN3*), you can see how hard he is trying not to grimace in revulsion or laugh out loud at the charade. You just know what he really wanted to say:
"Congressman Waxman, I would like to ask you a question: Why are you in league with the chief Shiite terrorist in Iraq, Moqtada al-Sadr? He controls the Ministry of the Interior (MOI), and it was MOI police who attacked us on September 16. All of the "witnesses" claiming we opened fire and killed 11 Iraqi civilians are Iraqi police with the MOI. Are you just using their lies to smear us or are you in active cooperation with al-Sadr to hurt the war effort in Iraq? If so, perhaps you would be more appropriately addressed as Congressman Moqtada al-Waxman."
This phony hearing should have been conducted in reverse, with Prince demanding answers to questions from Waxman that need to be answered. Such as:
"Congressman Moqtada al-Waxman, is your collusion with al-Sadr's Mahdi Army operatives working for the MOI just a marriage of convenience or have any of your staffers been in direct/indirect communication with them?"
"Congressman Moqtada al-Waxman, if you had a choice between an American victory in Iraq or a Democrat Party victory in 2008, which would you choose?"
"Congressman Moqtada al-Waxman, many people believe these hearings of yours are simply an unending series of fishing expeditions to smear the presidency of George Bush and your Republican colleagues in Congress. In particular, you have held hearings to discredit Mr. Bush, hearings to discredit our military, hearings to discredit the Iraqi government, and now hearings to discredit those of us who risk our lives to protect our diplomats in Iraq. My question is: who will be the next target of your smear attempts?"
"Congressman Moqtada al-Waxman, one last simple question, yes or no: do you want America to win its war in Iraq? Yes or no?"
The answer to this last question is, of course, no. Democrats such as Waxman are desperate for America to lose. As the evidence continues to mount that we are winning, their efforts are becoming ever more desperate.
In fact, serious experts with deep familiarity on the ground are beginning to argue that the war in Iraq has essentially been won. Not that there's "light at the end of the tunnel," but that we're out of the tunnel, and that victory has been achieved and needs now to be consolidated. An op-ed by Bartle Bull in today's (10/03) Wall St. Journal argued just this.
I am a little bit more cautious than Bull, but it's increasingly clear that victory in Iraq is nigh. Thus the Dems will be doing everything they can to toss that victory into the jaws of defeat.
That's why Waxman is colluding with Moqtada al-Sadr: both are equally desperate to prevent an American triumph.
It may be just a little early to hold a victory party, but not too soon to think of whom to take as a date to the party. Once they see the video clips of the hearings sure to be posted on YouTube, hordes of teenage girls – and grown women – will fantasize about going to the party with Erik Prince.
That he's happily married won't stop the flood of gushing fan mail he's about to get, declaring him their heartthrob. And who can blame the ladies? For Erik is not some celluloid hero, but a real-life warrior hero perfect for a good guys vs. evil terrorists in cahoots with corrupt Washington politicians Hollywood blockbuster.
If only Hollywood didn't hate the real-life good guys.
*You can watch the C-SPAN video of the hearing by going to www.c-span.org. It is currently listed under Recent Programs: House Oversight & Gov't. Reform Cmte. Hearing on Blackwater USA. Once it is no longer there, enter Blackwater 10/02/07 in the Video Search box.
**This is the event that triggered the hearing. On September 16, a State Dept. team escorted by Blackwater guards came under attack by Iraqi MOI police in Baghdad. The Blackwater guards returned fire and got "the package" (the protectees) "off the X" (the attack location) to safety. No protectees were harmed, 11 Iraqis were killed, by whom is to be determined by an impending FBI investigation.