Who's In Charge Here

According to the President and the Vice President, the Congress daring to insert themselves into the Iraq debate is deeply damaging for America, goes against the will of the troops, and will cause all Americans to suffer and die in a fiery wreck.

But according to the Secretary of Defense, the Iraq debate is a good and necessary thing to be having in a democracy, and is helping our efforts to reach a political solution:

Gates, on a Middle East tour, called for a range of efforts from inside and outside Iraq to speed up the formation of a broad-based government of Iraq’s majority Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish factions.

….”The debate in Congress…has been helpful in demonstrating to the Iraqis that American patience is limited,” Gates told Pentagon reporters traveling with him in Jordan. “The strong feelings expressed in the Congress about the timetable probably has had a positive impact…in terms of communicating to the Iraqis that this is not an open-ended commitment."

In fact, we know that Condi Rice has used the Democratic calls for withdrawal to force the Maliki government's hand in Iraq, and so has John McCain.

Who's in charge here? We have two sides of the government speaking with two completely different voices on the efficacy of the Congressional debate on Iraq. To anyone with a brain, it should be obvious that the Congress has a duty to act in the interests of their constituents, and has a Constitutionally mandated power with respect to foreign affairs. Yet this is a DEBATE within the executive branch. And that it's a debate at all represents progress, that's the crazy thing.