Friday, December 14, 2007

Curious Congressional Priorities

Congress is in the process of passing long overdue appropriations budgets. This item, however, struck me as most curious.
The bill, a House-Senate compromise to authorize intelligence operations in 2008, also blocks spending 70 percent of the intelligence budget until the House and Senate intelligence committees are briefed on Israel's Sept. 6 air strike on an alleged nuclear site in Syria. (Reuters)
Congress is going to withhold the overwhelming majority of the intel budget until the intel committees are briefed on the Israeli raid from September 6?

Are you kidding me?

We're in a war, and Congress is playing games with the intel budget again because they want a briefing on what Israel did September 6. I'm just as curious as everyone else following the September 6 raid, but to withhold a critical budget item because Congress wants to hear what US intel agencies know about the raid is the height of folly.

Congress, but holding the funds, would limit intel activities that are crucial and necessary to maintaining national security going forward because they want information on a raid that took place this past September by one of our allies against Syria, which harbors terrorist groups including Hizbullah, and whose regime undermines the territorial and political integrity of Lebanon.

Where is the sense in this?

Also covering this is Bryan at Hot Air, who provides me with the HT. Thanks.

UPDATE:
This provision was part of a larger bill that would ban waterboarding. It's within Congress's right to ban that procedure, but they (and us) will have to live with the repercussions.

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