Blaming the Milk For Spilling Itself

Republican Senators Saxby Chambliss and Lindsey Graham have started rattling economic sabres at Iraq. The two men have a stern warning for the Iraqi government as it tries to fix its country: hurry up already, or prepare for destitution.

I want you to read these passage from the article and tell if they make your brain hurt, like they do mine:

"I do expect them to deliver," Graham, R-S.C., said in a phone interview upon returning from a Thanksgiving trip to Iraq. "What would happen for me if there's no progress on reconciliation after the first of the year, I would be looking at ways to invest our money into groups that can deliver."

Chambliss, R-Ga., who traveled with Graham as part of a larger congressional delegation, said lawmakers might even call for al-Maliki's ouster if Baghdad didn't reach agreement on at least some of the major issues seen as key to tamping down sectarian violence.

"If we don't see positive results by the end of the year I think you'll probably see a strong message coming out of Congress calling for a change in administration," he said in a conference call with reporters.

Sometimes I feel like sending these guys a postcard that on the front, in giant block letters, that says

FOREIGN POLICY: YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG.

It isn't enough that we're demanding the genie of the invaded, almost-failed state with a destroyed infrastructure be automagically put back in the bottle; now we have a Senator saying, candidly, that the Iraqi people have no method or hope for self-determination or governance if they disappoint us. You have to put out the fire, guys, but only because we're letting you try to put out the fire.

There are few things in politics that I get literally angry about, and the foreign policy debacle of Iraq is one of them. The fact of it, in and of itself, is bad enough. The attitude that Republicans so often display about Iraqi political development is an escalation into ridiculousness that I find unconscionable. I shouldn't be surprised anymore by anything they do, but somehow they keep finding ways.