Waxman whacked by Bremer

Dana Milbank:

...

It was to have been the grudge match Democrats waited years for: The ferocious Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), newly installed as chairman of the committee, was to flex his new oversight muscles by summoning Bremer to account for his actions while running Iraq in 2003 and 2004.

But Bremer proved unexpectedly agile at shifting blame: to administration planners ("The planning before the war was inadequate"), his superiors in the Bush administration ("We never had sufficient support"), and the Iraqi people ("The country was in chaos -- socially, politically and economically").

And Democrats, after 12 years in the minority, were out of practice. Instead of going after Bremer's greatest vulnerabilities -- his autocratic management style and his "de-Baathification" of Iraq -- Democrats instead chose a strange focus for the hearing: the failure to account for $8 billion of cash payments three years ago. After nearly five hours of questioning, the lawmakers failed to find a smoking gun: It wasn't U.S. taxpayer money, it was a pittance compared with U.S. spending in Iraq, there was no hard evidence of fraud, and the episode had been investigated two years ago.

Waxman, who began the hearing with a broad smile and played frequently with the gavel while sitting on the edge of the chairman's seat, gradually grew more somber and sank back into his chair. The natty Bremer, sporting a pocket handkerchief and a flag lapel pin, grew more confident. As his deflections thwarted the lawmakers, Bremer's wife, unable to contain her delight, reached out from the first row of the audience to pat her husband on the back.

...

This hearing manage to highlight the arrogance of anti war Democrats more than the mistakes of Jerry Bremer. There was similar arrogance when they confronted Oliver North years ago and he also wound up making them slink down in their chairs.