Iranian Influence

There's a lot of good people on the Foreign Affairs committee, but Barbara Boxer is kind of a breath of fresh air. She talks like a smart, fairly knowledgeable liberal rather than like a paid-up member of the establishment looking forward to a CFR banquet in her honor. She's driving home the point that it's a bit perverse to be worried about the potential for Iranian influence in Iraq at a time when the President of Iran is being feted by the government of Iraq that we're backing. You can tell that Ryan Crocker finds her annoying, perhaps even "unserious," but it's good to see someone in a position of influence who's serious enough not to take all this gobbledygook seriously.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2008/04/iranian-influence/44258/