Like Ed Felker at the PB Political Party, we got the press advisory about Walz returning from the final leg of his congressional travel delegation. He writes:
Freshman Rep. Tim Walz, D-Mankato, is due back in Washington this evening from his first trip to Iraq, his office said today. An announcement of a press event tomorrow from Walz's office confirmed that his trip with other lawmakers included time in Iraq and Germany.
Walz spoke with reporters Friday about his four days in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but would not outline the rest of the trip due to security restrictions. While some lawmakers arrange press calls when visiting Iraq, most congressional delegations do not publicize their itineraries until after they have left Iraq or Kuwait.
While Walz's office on Friday asked reporters not to speculate about his further stops, the Post-Bulletin did not do so based on two other factors. One, he gave no details whatsoever about his plans, and those could have been canceled at any time. Secondly, an intelligent observer can deduce that by not immediately coming home, and having traveled to Afghanistan to meet with American commanders and troops, Walz was on his way to Iraq.
Actually, we had speculated to ourselves about the congressman's whereabouts days before the impromtu press call last Friday. First, working on the 2007 highlights reminded us that an earlier trip to Iraq, Afghanistan and other stops in the journey of wounded warriors made us curious about when the congressman would reschedule.
Second, we noticed that the congressman's calendar had emptied to Bachmanesque quietude during a recess--a sharp departure from the usual schedule (heck, even on weekends when Congress is session), and figured that this would be a likely time for the trip.
Finally, the mission itself: when Congressman Walz mentioned in the press call talking to wounded soldiers and those who care for them, we pieced that part together. Not rocket science. The surprising part of the trip was to Pakistan.
Felker observes that television stations and at least one blogger (us) mentioned Walz being in the middle east, which the Post Bulletin didn't report. An interesting distinction: we wondered whether to place Afghanistan in the middle east or southwest Asia. Once the television statoins went with the middle east/mideast, we went with that. Originally, we'd only mentioned the two countries where we knew for sure Walz had been.
Felker concludes with an observation about the security:
It certainly says something about Iraq, five years since the U.S. invaded, that members of Congress cannot say they are going there until they leave.
Some readers may remember that former Sixth district congressman Mark Kennedy famously said after visiting Iraq that soon families will vacation there. Sadly, that prediction doesn't seem to beoming true anytime soon.
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