Crediblity and Proximity Pt. 2

I’m sure prompted by McCain’s well publicized and critiqued visit to Iraq over the weekend, the NYTimes ran an illuminating article about congressmen visiting Iraq.

Some, ahem, cherries:

The duration and scope of Congressional visits are tightly controlled. Lawmakers from opposing parties often travel together, but draw opposite conclusions from the same trip on the war’s progress. And while lawmakers say they are deeply moved by their experiences, they almost always return with their previous convictions firmly reinforced.

…

Members rarely spend more than a night in Iraq, often flying back to Kuwait or Jordan at the end of the day. The trips are heavy on meetings with American military and embassy officials, with almost no opportunities for unscripted encounters with regular Iraqis.

…

Many prominent critics of the war have never been to Iraq — fewer than one-third of the 75 members of the House’s Out of Iraq Caucus have visited — and some insist that they are none the worse for it.

…

Mr. Whitehouse, who made his first visit to Iraq this year, admitted that his 36-hour trip had been tantamount to “drilling a tiny, tiny, little core sample out of some vast geologic mass and then drawing conclusions from it.”

…

The most valuable parts of the trips, however, transcend politics, said Ms. Klobuchar. At the end of their visit, when the senators were waiting to leave, the military transport plane next to theirs was being loaded with six coffins.