at the program were talking about Israel is getting ready for unilateral action in Iran. And they don't have high regards for our State Dept. and think the European effort for past five years on Iran's nuclear ambitions is a failure.

Personally I would like to see him as SOS. I am still hoping that HRC will be tapped for VP.

Obama is a naif in foreign policy, and until he became a serious candidate he displayed little interest in its intricacies.

According to the Washington Post, our embassy in Iraq hosts many US legislators.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con tent/article/2008/07/17/AR2008071703007. html  Interesting to me is the list of the most frequent visitors -- legislators who tried to keep on top of things by visiting on a continual basis.  The leaders -- Chris Shays of CT (16), Jack Reed of RI (11), Jim Marshall of GA (11), Carl Levin of MI (9), Joe Wilson of SC (9), and John McCain (8).  Obama is at (1).

Let's talk about Obama now getting interested in Afghanistan, whereas he never was before.  Even Biden criticized him for it. Biden is now defending Obama:

In a letter to Obama earlier this week, McCain-backing Sen. Jim DeMint R- SC, wrote, "With oversight of NATO relations and its role in Afghanistan, I believe it is time for us to focus closely on these issues," DeMint wrote, suggesting a meeting of the subcommittee upon Obama's return from a much anticipated trip abroad.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joe Biden, D-Del., had previously told Meet the Press that "the reason Obama didn't hold a hearing on NATO, I chair the committee. Every one of those committee hearings are held at full committee."

But today Biden decided to take his defense of Obama one step further, writing to DeMint that there have been plenty of hearings on European Affairs, they've just been held at the "full committee level."

"On the particular issue of NATO's mission in Afghanistan," Biden wrote, "We have held three Full Committee hearings in the last 22 months . . .

Jake Tapper, who compiled this info, noted:

But Biden's letter brought attention to the fact that Obama did not attend two of those three hearings -- and for the third, on March 8, 2007, Obama only asked one question, one unrelated to Afghanistan.

How do I know the latter fact? From an August 2007 press release from Biden himself, when he was running for president.

"BIDEN CAMPAIGN CONGRATULATES SEN. OBAMA FOR JOHNNY-COME-LATELY POSITION," it read. Noting that at the March 2007 hearing, "Sen. Obama asked one question that was unrelated to Taliban or Afghanistan."

Thanks, Joe!

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/ 2008/07/thanks-for-noth.html

Politico had more of the story on Biden's "Before he was nominated" criticism: http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0 807/Biden_Obama_stole_my_ideas.html

Sen. Biden has been talking about this for over 6 months. Dating back to January 5th, Sen. Biden said America Should Surge Troops in Afghanistan. He told the Washington Post, "If we're surging troops anywhere, it should be in Afghanistan," Biden said. Adding troops there would give the United States "the moral high ground" in its quest for more forces from NATO allies. [Washington Post, 1/5/07]

"We find it a little disingenuous that Sen. Obama is hailing this as a new bold initiative when he has neglected to join his colleagues in the Senate when the opportunities have been there to redirect our forces into Afghanistan" said Biden for President Campaign Manager Luis Navarro. "It's good to see Sen. Obama has finally arrived at the right position, but this can hardly be considered bold leadership."

So it looks like Biden outed Obama a while back.  I'm sure the GOP will use this in its post-convention a

Another reason to ditch Obama and back Hillary at the convention.