Topic du jour I haven’t posted about the dustup over Who Knew What When, And What We Should Do About It, partly because every time I start getting ready to do so, Ted Barlow has said what I was gonna say, and said it better. Over the last several days, he’s also done an admirably measured job of noting and quoting comments from all the various “sides” of this controversy. I’m not linking to any specific post; just go there and read his blog from about May 16 or so. (Of course, as experienced blog readers, you’re used to reading from the bottom to the top.)

Okay, I will quote just one thing, his response to Rep. Porter Goss (R, FL), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, who asserted that “the only thing that this uproar does is give aid and comfort to the enemy.” Observed Barlow:

Is there some scenario in Goss’s pea-brain in which Terrorist A is turning to Terrorist B and saying “Praise Allah! They’re asking for an independent commission to investigate the failure of intelligence agencies to connect the information they had before September 11th! They’re trying to make their system better to improve their chances of preventing future terrorist actions! Victory is ours!”

Elsewhere, Tapped links to these remarks by Sen. John McCain (R, AZ):

An independent inquiry will not impose a serious burden on the administration as it prosecutes our just war against terrorism, any more than a similar inquiry after Pearl Harbor impeded Franklin D. Roosevelt’s prosecution of World War II. Nor should it prevent members of Congress, the press or any American citizen from questioning or criticizing the government’s apparent failures before and after President Bush’s inauguration. All wars and national security failures have occasioned contemporaneous criticism, and the Republic has managed to thrive.

It is irresponsible in a time of war, or any time for that matter, to attack or defend unthinkingly or because partisan identification is one’s supreme interest. But it is not responsible or right to shrink from offering thoughtful criticism when and to whom it is due, and when the consequences of incompletely understanding failures of governance are potentially catastrophic. On the contrary, such timidity is indefensibly irresponsible especially in times of war, so irresponsible that it verges on the unpatriotic.

Uh, right on. [10:14 AM]