The Anti-Sam Brownback Blog

Senator Brownback’s main push in the international arena is the Sudan. I applaud him for discussing the conflict openly and for rightly calling it genocide. I’ll gloss over the fact that he is not as interested in similar deaths in other African nations. Perhaps his interest in Sudan comes from the evangelical lobbying groups in DC who advocate on behalf of the people in Darfur because in this case, unlike most others in Africa, the oppressed are Christians. Like I said, I’ll gloss over it.

Even on his pet project of Sudan Brownback is a hypocrite. He uses this issue just like he uses so many other issues. This morning on C-SPAN’s Washington journal Senators Brownback and Corzine were taking questions from the phones. His answer on one of the questions infuriated me.

The woman caller commented that last year when the genocide in Sudan finally started receiving international exposure the Senate spent three weeks debating gay marriage. She asked Brownback where his priorities are. An excellent question which pits one side of him against the other.

Brownback started his response by saying that 18 states have voted on this issue and the reason it is being brought up is that people think it is an important issue. He then goes on to spout some of his normal drivel about how children are best raised by two, heterosexual parents. Interesting to note that he said nothing about “loving parents.” Their sexuality is all that is important. Beat your kids if you want, just don’t be queer.

But I digress. He finished up his answer by saying:

We know in government that if you can get the basic [family] right you can move forward on a lot of other issues. If you get the basics wrong it’s like football; blocking and tackling. If you get those wrong, you can’t do a whole lot else. And that is why those issues are discussed. I realize people look at different priorities in different ways, but I think a lot of people around would consider that, would consider the discussion on Terri Schiavo and this issue and debate over quality of life being sacred per se is a monumental one. That you had a case study on and discussion in this country.

Excuse me. I think the 3000 people dying every day in Sudan would consider their quality of life a bit diminished. And thanks for reducing the 180,000 deaths in the Sudan to a political football game. He is all too willing to prioritize his hate of homosexuals over the deaths of Africans.

So blocking and tackling huh? I suppose the homosexual menace is killing 3000 innocent civilians every day right here in the US. It was so urgent that is needed to be debated for three weeks, and then not do a damn thing. Thank godness we headed off the impending disaster in the U.S. with our decisive inaction.

But hey, it’s not like we are the richest, most powerful nation in the world. Besides, we obviously are in an isolationist paradigm. No way we are sending troops to another country. We certainly have our own moral crusades to fight here at home. Generalismo Brownback, lead the way.

[Note: This post was originally written yesterday, 4-8-2005, but not posted until today as a result of an unfortunate series of computer problems.]

For a short while, Ahmed Chalabi became one of the most well known faces of the Iraqi opposition groups. He was the head of the Iraqi National Congress (INC) which was a group of exiles working to overthrow Saddam. On the strength of the old adage “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” Chalabi became very important to the US intelligence gathering operations surrounding Iraq.

While Chalabi was making inroads with the US intelligence community, Brownback was sitting on the powerful Senate Foreign Relations committee. He repeatedly called Chalabi to testify to the mounting dangers of Saddam and WMDs. An article in the LA Times from April 8th 2003 illustrates how Brownback felt about Chalabi:

“I worked with him for a good five years. He is the only guy I’ve seen that is able to organize the Iraqi opposition and hold them together,” said Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “He’s bright and tireless and he really works at holding the big principles together.”

In 1998 Brownback co-sponsored The Iraqi Liberation Act which gave 3 million dollars to Chalabi’s INC for the purpose of weakening Saddam’s regime. While he was supporting the INC, he acknowledged they were not a perfect solution. In a January 3rd, 1999 New York Times article Brownback describes the INC by saying, “Every one of them has warts.”

During the ensuing war, Brownback complained that there was not enough of an “Iraqi face” on the operation. He went on to complain how the INC was not given the respect it deserved. Shortly after Chalabi was playing a key role in the reconstruction of Iraq.

We all know what has happened to Chalabi lately. He was accused of espionage and collaboration with the Iranians. He continues to deny that he passed cryptographic secrets to Iran. Brownback has never had to answer for his role in bringing credibility to Chalabi and aiding him in his deception of the west. In a Wichita Eagle article on October 23rd 2004 Brownback claims he has not spoken to Chalabi in “months.”

An excellent overview of the Chalabi - Brownback connection was written by Pitch Magazine in Kansas City. I would suggest this as a starting point. The wikipedia entry for Chalabi also gives good background information on the man and his deceptions.