The blind leading the lame...

Glenn Reynolds finds this:

The problem arose when Karzai visited the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for what the committee had billed as a "meeting." Generally, heads of state meet with the committee in private, but Chairman Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.) instead invited Karzai to a hearing room with reporters present.

Karzai was placed at a witness table looking up at the senators, the usual layout for people summoned to testify at a hearing. There were several skeptical and hostile questions that Karzai did not expect and had not prepared for, according to the Afghan officials. . . .

In addition to being seated at a table below the committee members, Karzai was scolded by some of them.

Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) warned that if Karzai told the committee everything was going well, "the next time you come back, then your credibility will be in question." Hagel said later that he felt the administration had "coached" Karzai.

Holding a recent report released by the advocacy group Human Rights Watch, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) told Karzai that "police in Herat are detaining women and girls caught alone with unrelated men, are being forced to submit to medical exams to see if they have recently had sexual relations."

The Karzai government is trying to expand its authority across the country, but it still has only limited control in many areas, including the western city of Herat. . . .

"We thought these people were our friends, but now we really don't know," a senior Afghan government official said. "This was a protocol blunder, and there was real insensitivity on the part of some senators. They were talking about nitty-gritty problems in Afghanistan and missing the big picture that there is a war on terrorism going on while we try to make a country again from scratch."

"lame".

Instead of worrying about Karzai not getting the red carpet treatment, maybe Glenn should ask why the US isn't helping him "get control" of his country instead of acting like a child bored with the Afghani sandbox who runs over to the Iraqi sandbox. There are 250,000 soldiers in the area cooling their heels while President Cartman spends his days futilely trying to get the UN to respect his "autoritah". Before they start "liberating" the good people of Iraq, they might want to finish the job of liberating the people of Afghanistan.

Maybe it's just me, but Reynolds, who I used to enjoy reading, has become all surface and little thought. I know he has his various columns elsewhere where he goes somewhat more in depth, but the bulk of people go to InstaPundit and where they get "soundbite" posts like the above. They might just as well be Drudge Headlines (Senators Act Lame...Breaking!) To some degree I do this myself, but then I don't advertise myself as an expert/lawyer/MSNBC columnist.

A little more thought...a little less glibness.