(Via Dan Collins of POWIP) Senator Jim DeMint (R, SC) is back from Honduras – despite the best efforts of the Democrats to stop him from going – and he’s unkind about what has been pretty obviously an attempt by the American government to admit that we made a mistake and picked the wrong side of the Honduras issue:
[American policy re: the Zelaya ouster] was set in a snap decision the day Mr. Zelaya was removed from office, without a full assessment of either the facts or reliable legal analysis of the constitutional provisions at issue. Three months later, it remains in force, despite mounting evidence of its moral and legal incoherence.
[snip]
In a day packed with meetings, we met only one person in Honduras who opposed Mr. Zelaya’s ouster, who wishes his return, and who mystifyingly rejects the legitimacy of the November elections: U.S. Ambassador Hugo Llorens.
When I asked Ambassador Llorens why the U.S. government insists on labeling what appears to the entire country to be the constitutional removal of Mr. Zelaya a “coup,” he urged me to read the legal opinion drafted by the State Department’s top lawyer, Harold Koh. As it happens, I have asked to see Mr. Koh’s report before and since my trip, but all requests to publicly disclose it have been denied.
Bolding mine, and to illustrate the point that this is also a domestic political issue, not just a foreign policy one. I don’t actually think that the administration really intended to end up on the wrong side here; but they guessed spectacularly wrong, from insufficient evidence – and now the White House can’t just come out and admit that they made a mistake, mostly because they don’t want to deal with the consequences of having to admit that they made a mistake. Particularly since they don’t really care about Honduras one way or the other.
Yes. This is offensive. Hence Sen. DeMint’s article.
Moe Lane
PS: I voted for the other guy.
Crossposted to RedState.
So it is evidently ok now to keep members of congress in the dark about what is going on in our foreign affairs. Don’t we have a committee or something that does this sort of thing. Maybe the congressman should do a FOIA request. Or maybe he should subpoena Mannie before his committee.