Good morning Vietnam!

Someone wiser than me described the war in Iraq as "Vietnam on crack". It certainly seems to be spiraling out of control with astonishing speed.

Today yet another panel sits before a Congressional committee and accepts full responsibility for the heinous violations of the Geneva Conventions in the US prisons in Iraq, yet claims to have done nothing wrong. Abezaid, Miller and Sanchez aren't much like Abraham, Martin and John but they pretend to be. Such high-minded language they hide behind. The Bush Administration two-step: Accept responsibility, without consequences.

If I were a Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Subcommittee, I'd cede my time to Jack Reed of Rhode Island. I've been really impressed by his ability to ask questions. Short, precise questions that the witnesses must answer yes or no. Questions that yield answers. Not the long-winded prefaces followed by several questions that so many of our senators subject us to. Of course, he's a lawyer. And from the sounds of it, a lawyer who actually practiced law.

Attorney General Reed sounds pretty good to me.

Robert Byrd may be old, but he is still sharp as a tack. We are so impatient in this media age, spit it out, get on with it, but in his own gently slower way he is spot on.

I still can't believe John Kerry floated John Warner's name as a potential Defense Secretary in his administration. Maybe it's just my chafing at the overly-cordial manner Warner and so many senators indulge in. But I still see him as an apologist for the Defense Department and the military.

Did anyone hear what the protesters were yelling at the 9/11 hearing today? I heard "radios", which I assume refers to the catastrophic failure of the Fire Dept.'s radio system which contributed to the deaths of the 343 FDNY that awful day. I thought someone else yelled "Motorola", which I assume is connected, but don't know how.

Well, that's it for my first post. More to come.