The Red and Black

Issue date: 4/10/08 Section: News

Media Credit: FRANNIE FABIAN Lee H. Hamilton, a former Indiana congressman and Iraq Study Group co-chair, gave a lecture in the University Chapel on Wednesday. [Click to enlarge]

The co-chair of the Iraq Study Group and vice-chair of the 9/11 Commission did not mince words Wednesday in a lecture at the Chapel.

Lee Hamilton's message: The U.S. Congress is failing to provide adequate oversight of the executive branch.

"The Congress has ceded too much power to the President - that's the bottom line," said Hamilton, a retired 34-year veteran of
the U.S. House of Representatives.

Hamilton was the speaker at this year's "Getzen Lecture on Government Accountability," hosted by the School of Public and International Affairs and Department of Public Administration and Policy.

Hamilton, a democrat from Indiana, said representatives in Congress spend too much time politicking and not enough time maintaining proper checks and balances in the federal government.

"Oversight is often judged by how many cameras you can get in a room," he said.

He said undeclared wars, such as the one in Iraq, are the result of Congress allowing the executive branch free reign.

"They had the same information the President had," prior to the war in Iraq, he said. "Where were they?"

In response to a question from an audience member, Hamilton said he disagrees with the Democratic presidential candidates who, if elected, promise to set a timetable for exiting Iraq.

"The idea of withdrawing from Iraq is a lot more complicated than people think," he said. "I do not think you can set policies on the basis of timetables."

Democrats and Republicans should end "highly partisan, shallow debates" about Iraq, Hamilton said.

Instead, he said, Congress should encourage the Iraqi government to be self-sufficient by withdrawing aid when the Iraqis fail to meet conditions.

Citizens have a responsibility to hold Congress accountable for its lack of oversight, he said.

Hamilton said when people are voting for congressional, presidential or local elections, they should vote for the candidate who will bring people together.

"The way people run for Congress today is by running against Congress," he said. "If you really want accountability in government, you have to do your part, as well."

Universities play a large role in educating citizens to make informed decisions about their representatives, he said.

Hamilton said government leaders should deeply consider the American public's opinions about issues, such as the Iraq War, when deciding policy.

"The American people are the ones that carry the burden of American foreign policy," he said. "I've come through my political experience with an underlying sense of the ... decency of the American people."

Congress must "take its seat at the table" and formulate policy, rather than simply react to the president's agenda," Hamilton said.

"Appalling things happen in the shadows," he said. "Part of the job of Congress is to turn that spotlight on."

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