How utterly stupid is this move? The New York Times Op-Ed contributors title their column, “Don’t Turn on Ethiopia”, going on to say:

By singling out Ethiopia for public embarrassment, the bill puts Congress unwittingly on the side of Islamic jihadists and insurgents.

As Bryan points out, Ethiopia is a key U.S. ally in the war on terror. It’s essentially preventing Somalia from turning into Afghanistan before the invasion. Now, Democrats want to cut off military aid.

A new war in the Horn of Africa would destabilize the region and bolster radical Islam’s push to build a Muslim caliphate.

Sadly, Congress is poised to fuel the march toward war by passing a bill that threatens to cut off technical assistance to Ethiopia, one of our closest allies, if it does not, among other things, release political prisoners, ensure that the judiciary operates independently and permit the news media to operate freely. Ethiopia has already freed opposition leaders, reformed parliamentary rules to give opposition parties greater legislative responsibility and approved a new media law that meets international standards. By singling out Ethiopia for public embarrassment, the bill puts Congress unwittingly on the side of Islamic jihadists and insurgents.

A far better approach would be to buttress Ethiopia against threats to its survival — by helping it resolve its border conflict and ensuring that it reopens negotiations with insurgents and traditional leaders and permits international investigation of reported military abuses (including allegations of rape and murder). Ethiopia has begun this process by allowing the United Nations and humanitarian aid agencies to assist civilians in the Ogaden.

This is just the latest Democratic attempts to cut off aid to key U.S. allies. From Turkey, which would hinder our efforts in Iraq, to Pakistan, which would help the Islamic terror groups.

Bryan writes:

Democrats routinely let the perfect become the enemy of the good, especially if the imperfect good happens to be a US ally.

And while this is going on, Democrats and their allies routinely prop up Hugo Chavez as a swell chap in spite of (or because of?) his over the top anti-American rants.

Oh, and save Darfur, dude!