If any of you get a chance, do try to watch Hardball today. Chris Matthews has a brief interview with Senator Webb and even though it was quick, it was quite informative because neither Matthews nor Webb engaged in much PC talking or dancing around the issues: a. GWB baiting the Iranians for war - Webb said some of GWB's recent posturing was very worrisome and he inteneded to do something about it. For example Webb wanted to have Congress give GWB clear directions on what he could and could not do - in particular the fact that GWB moved navy ships to the Strait of Hormuz was wrong in Webb's opinion. In fact when he was Secty of the Navy, the US made a point of not having US ships enter the Strait of Hormuz because there is so little room there and that accidents could easily happen of ships bumping into each other and this could be mis-construed as act of war. So the US navy in the past decided to keep itself out of that accidental war trigger situation.
b. what powers the October 2002 Iraq war resolution assigned GWB - Matthews thought that Gephardt had included narrow targets for GWB but Webb disabused Matthews of this notion - the October 2002 resolution gave GWB broad powers for pre-emptive/preventative war and Webb wanted Congress to change that scope of authority for military action.
c. Senator Webb said that he did not believe in either the concept of pre-emptive war or in preventative war. Webb's response appreared to surprise Matthews. I liked it! This was in response to Chris Matthews giving Webb examples of various situations where pre-emptive/preventative wars might have been necessary at the time.
Chris Matthews cited the examples of the 1967 war wherein Israel saw that the Arab states were preparing for battle so Israel jumped in first as well as WW II where FDR had positioned navy ships in the North Atlantic baiting Germany to attack one of them to give a reason for war.
Good back and forth discussion all way round. If you catch the segment, tell me what you think of it. I like Webb so I might be giving him too much credit for his "honesty."