Intros and Opening Statements

Alright. CSpan.org suddenly became less-than-reliable, but the rain let up enough that I think I’ve got MSNBC coming in Lima Charlie.

We shall see.

This whole thing is starting out with…a heckler? There’s a voice hollering and…Ike Skelton (D-Mo) bounces ‘em. “Out they go!” Long pause…. “are they gone?”

Breaks at 1425 and 1625? For five minutes?

“What may be the most important hearing of the year.” Well, Ike’s got the picture.

Insert here long, drawn-out rambling by Ike Skelton. As soon as he referenced the 1921 testimony of Gen. Leonard Wood regarding the Spanish American War, I decided it was a good time to cook lunch.

Ike says, and I paraphrase, that Petraeus is the right man, but two years and 250,000 troops too late. I don't quite understand that statement. Time is an artificial constraint in this situation, and numbers of troops...well, that's a variable entirely within the control of gentlemen like Skelton.

Note - Petraeus has odd hair. As does Ambassador Crocker. Can't someone help these gentlemen out?

Rep. Tom Lantos is a very scary man. The accent does not help (accent explained here). "Every single one of us wants you to succeed in your efforts to the greatest possible extent." Forgive me my doubts, but I wonder about that.

Huh? Lantos says, "our witnesses have been sent here this morning to restore credibility to a discredited policy." I thought they were there by Congressional order to deliver a mandated progress report.

Now Duncan Hunter is talking. When the TV guys introduced this, I thought there'd be a little chatter before the witnesses spoke. Apparently, I was wrong. We all love Duncan Hunter, but there's nothing particularly surprising to be found here.

I'm going to go cook my pasta, as I think the water is boiling. I shall return.