As a veteran of the 1st gulf war, I am absolutely incensed that these morons in Congress are entirely clueless about the situation on the ground in Iraq.

I don't even blame the president for Congress' ignorance. Gutknecht- and other members of Congress- cannot get off the hook by blaming the administration on this. They have completely abdicated their oversight responsibilities and now they have blood on their hands.

What I'd like to ask Gutknecht and his cohort is, if they feel they cannot fully trust the information coming from the adminstration in matters of war, what do they feel they CAN trust this administration with. Keeping the identity of CIA agents secret? Illegally spying on American citizens? Energy policy?

Unfortunatly only one, 50 or so would be better. there must be better places to have troops. And the Green Zone , for whatever reason somebody choose green, the color of the Prophet, is Irak . Seat of the "government", the "parlament" and of course the democratizers, sorry, occupiers. Outside of it disaster and mayhem. With the uncouth slob at the helm in the US, every single enlightened house member helps to get reason into this institution. And reason dictates that the troops get out as soon as possible, if only to restore some credibility into the United States in the rest of the world.There is still room for true republicans in the house,lets hope that the neocons and born again fundamentalist fanatics get their walking papers come November. That would change the quasi dictatorship of Bush, Cheney and company back into democracy, badly needed.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/17/ap/politics/mainD8ITK08G9.shtml

Several of my brothers still live in this Congressional district. One of them is a staunch Republican but he is as sickened as I am by the Republican's actions under the Bush administration. I do not think he will be voting for Gutknecht or any other Republican.

I am convinced that the war in Iraq and the situation in the Middle East will not get any better until the majority of White Americans finally see the light. The United States cannot continue to bully the world. The United States cannot continue to police the world. What gives people? Where is the peace?

Tim, did you (or any of your readers) ever hear whatever happened to the group of loudmouth right-wing talk radio shock jocks (pardon the many redundancies there) who were going to spend a week in Iraq a year or two ago, in order to "cut through the media filter" and "report on the many positive things happening every day?" Did any of them actually set foot outside the Green Zone? If so, did they return equally confident in the success of the Bush-Cheney mission? (and did they learn what the mission might be?)

The Free Press is my hometown newspaper, so I was delighted to see Congressman Gutknecht admiting what a good percentage of us here in southern Minnesota have known for some time: George's war is not going well. Adding to the good congressman's enlightenment might be the fact he is running in the 1st district against Tim Walz, a retired, 24 year Army National Guard soldier. It should be noted that Congressman Gutknecht was incountry for less than a day. Had he hung around for, oh, let's say, a normal tour of duty and done more than peek over the wall of the Green Zone, his timely assesment might have been even more grim, do think?

If some of our representatives spent as much time reading newspapers as they spend trying to get mentioned in them, they might learn a few things that the rest of us already know.

A Republican Congressman actually noticed that the war isn't going well. This, of course, has been classified information closely held by the majority of the American people, but now the good Congressman has leaked the information to the Bush administration and the Congress. Hopefully, we will be able to keep our policies about global warming, energy, stem cell research, healthcare, education, election reform, and political ethics secret, at least until after the next election.

If there's any justice in the world, the Americans who live in Gutknecht's district have already lost faith in him. It's great that he has the courage to admit what his own eyes have seen, even if it comes after years of Republican demagogy and in the midst of a reelection race. But it seems to us that members of Congress owe their constituents a duty of reasonable inquiry all the time, and that's a duty that Gutknecht has pretty clearly failed to perform until now.

I am a lifelong Yellow Dog Democrat (I would vote for a little yellow dog before I would vote for a Republican.) but in this case, I have to respectfully disagree with Tim Grieve's opinion.

I have no idea what kind of job Gutknecht is doing for his constituents and, seeing as I do not live in his district, it is none of my business.

However, if Republicans are beginning to notice that things are not as portrayed by the Bush administration, the rest of us need to welcome them to the fold, not disparage them.

Good tactics would dictate that we rally all the support we can for ending the war, ousting Bush, and restoring U.S. relations with the rest of the world.

Perhaps yes, we should welcome him to the anti-war fold. But he should be excoriated and voted out of office for failing to do this job in the first place.

There is so much DISINFO around that it is easy to forget that there were many voices

prior to the invasion that foretold the scenario we are seeing now. "We didn't see the

insurgency coming" said Bremer. Well, plenty of other people, who pay attention to facts, did, and it is about time that the American people began to realize that wishful thinking, if not frank denial in critical situations is a serious component to overall spectacular incompetence.

It is clear that right wingers like Congressman Gutknecht are among the Republican majority, unfortunately not so silent these days, for whom facts are simply an inconvenience.

Wake up folks!!! The people leading you are blind......by choice!!!

BTW, in German, Gutknecht means good knight.

And good luck!