So?

That was a very significant moment at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings with Amb. Ryan Crocker and Gen. David Petraeus. Joe Biden asked Amb. Crocker where it would be better for American national security interests to eliminate Al Qaeda in Iraq or Al Qaeda along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Crocker had nowhere to hide with that question. Spencer Ackerman describes the outcome.

Crocker, in an impossible political position -- give the correct answer and humiliate the Bush administration; give the administration's answer and look like a fool -- dodged as much as he could. Then Biden forced him down. Crocker: "I would therefore pick Al Qaeda on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border."

Game over.

  Hullabaloo

He's only an ambassador. What does he know?

Hat tip Maru.

The Perfect Diplomat

Five years ago, as the Bush administration was preparing to invade Iraq, Ryan Crocker and a handful of other State Department officials wrote a six-page memo warning of the possible pitfalls of a U.S.-led attack.

An invasion could "unleash long-repressed sectarian and ethnic tensions," the memo said. It also warned "that the Sunni minority would not easily relinquish power, and that powerful neighbors such as Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia would try to move in to influence events."

It was titled "The Perfect Storm."

  McClatchy

Ryan Crocker is our newest ambassador to Iraq. I would wonder if he ever wants to say, "I told you so," except it seems that now he's got his position, he's ready to smooth over all the problems he predicted.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.