Submitted by JOHN BATCHELOR, Feb 3, 2007 13:12

There is general sympathy with the opinion that something useful must happen with regard the Iraq theater. It is a puzzle how this yearning could remake Congress into a star chamber. Congress is designed to hold meetings. Five hundred and thirty-five American citizens with money to spend and attitude to waste can agree on very little. This is not an opinion. It is my reading of the history of Congress -- and all the more so during wartime. Congress is a legislative body, for making laws that may or may not be Constitutional; it is not an executive body for directing battles. It is for pettifoggery and spreading the blame and now and again for representing common sense. It was deliberately not given the power by the Founders to make war. Yikes. The Founders saw what a serpentine mess Congress made of Washington's encampment at Valley Forge in 1777-78. There were only about 19 members of Congress at the time, and it is easy to lose count how many coups, changes of heart, betrayals, false promises and plain lies those 19 created for the sad shoeless Continental Army. Sacking Washington and making peace with Parliament was just the top of the schemes. During the Civil War, Congress had notions that would have hanged most of Lee's officer cadre, when captured, and shot most of the New York political class, when elected. Congress wanted to start a war with Britain, replace Lincoln with either Stanton or Chase, turn Seward into the Prime Minister, and put the Democratic members of Congress in Old Capitol Prison, without a warrant, when they voted against anything less than vengeance. Congress is a happy stew. Self-satisfied, colorful, now and again droll, and busy with its booster projects and pocket-lining practices. We pay it badly because it spends badly. The best that can be said for Congress, in 1777 or in 2007, is that we have the names of the rascals comes the day for settling up or just moving on.

Note: Comments are screened, and in some cases edited, before posting. We reserve the right to reject anything we find objectionable.