Intervention by Hill in Iraq War Not a First; 1860s Panel Criticized Lincoln

Beginning of article

Byline: Joyce Howard Price, THE WASHINGTON TIMES

It's uncommon for Congress to intervene in a war that's under way - as the Senate did Tuesday regarding Iraq - but there is a precedent for such interference, dating back to the Civil War.

It was in December 1861, eight months after the first bloodshed in the War Between the States, that the House and Senate approved the formation of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War to investigate the conflict. The panel consisted of three senators and four representatives.

"The majority of the members of that committee were radical Republicans, who were very critical of Abraham Lincoln's war policies," said …