In case you still don't get it, here's proof that, no matter what they say and how much their spin-meisters fake it, Republicans hate the military, and worse, they don't listen to military leaders who are unwilling to feed them what they want to hear.
From the moment they conceived the ridiculous notion of invading Iraq (whenever that was) the Bush administration, and more specifically the Pentagon under Don Rumsfeld, has made it their policy to bully and intimidate the generals who bear the sober responsibility for conducting our troops in the field, rather than to listening to them when it comes to how best to wage the war. As a result, the Bush White House has relied on "advice" from the most pliant Joint Chiefs of Staff in recent memory, including the retired Dick Myers (who took submissiveness to new levels when he was JCS chair) and the current chairman, General Peter Pace (who has continued his predecessor's habit of parroting the robotic supposed "good news" on Iraq and the pishaw, we don't need more troops line,) and they have burrowed into an echo chamber that makes it almost impossible for them to realistically assess where we are and find a way to fix what's wrong on the ground
The president's constant refrain that he "listens to the generals, and they tell him how many troops they need," would be great, if the generals were giving him their objective advice, rather than the spoiled fruit of Rumsfeldian bullying and micromanagement, plus his absurd notion of holding onto 22 million people with an "ultra-light," stealthy force (which has to hop from hot spot to hot spot, just praying the Iraqi trainees they leave behind won't massacre -- or be massacred by -- the locals.)
And what has the Republican Congress done to turn this foundering ship around? Not a damned thing. They have shied away from oversight like a vampire avoids garlic.
Thankfully, Harry Truman in 1947 signed legislation creating independent Senate policy committees that can't be shoved into a basement meeting room by a big-bellied, chair-bully or denied the opportunity to meet at all, as happens in the House. On Monday, the Democratic version of this important, yet subpoena-less, committee, met. And while you wouldn't know it from the reaction of the supposedly liberal mainstream media, they actually made news.
With a big hat tip to Randi Rhodes, here is a link to the hearing, which saw a retired Marine colonel and two retired generals, including one who gave up the chance for a third star in order to retire early and speak out, testify that not only did we never have enough troops in Iraq (let alone a workable plan to win the peace) ... Donald Rumsfeld has been an impediment to progress, to openness and honesty with the White House, and to the successful implementation of his boss, the president's, ludicrous war policy.
Here's how the DPC describes itself on its web-site (it's chair is Byron Dorgan):
Members of Congress have a Constitutional obligation to oversee the activities of the Executive Branch. In the absence of effective oversight by congressional Republicans, the DPC conducts aggressive oversight and holds hearings to ensure government accountability.
Among the subjects the DPC has focused on are contracting abuses in Iraq and in the Gulf Coast region following Hurricane Katrina; pre-war intelligence failures; continuing homeland security vulnerabilities; wasteful deficit spending; proposals to undermine Social Security; covert propaganda by federal agencies to advance political agendas; the enforcement of environmental laws; and United States trade policy. Staff at the DPC Oversight and Accountability Project work with whistleblowers, non-profit groups, Executive Branch agencies, and their colleagues on Capitol Hill to protect U.S. taxpayers, uncover waste, fraud and abuse, and hold government officials accountable.
Aware of waste, fraud or abuse that we should investigate? E-mail us at oversight@dpc.senate.gov
Too bad the folks on the other side of the aisle care more about politics, and about covering the backside of the president, than they do about "the troops" -- or their constitutional responsibilities.
The only Republican to attend the hearings (all were invited, both via a letter from the DPC chair and by direct invitation from the Senate floor), wasn't even from the Senate (there was no John McCain, no Lindsey Graham ... not even a Chuck Hagel there.) Rep. Walter Jones (formerly known as the "freedom fry" guy, until he changed his mind on the war), was the lone GOP attendee.
And the response of the GOP to the hearings has also been telling. Sen. Trent Lott, who chairs the Rules Committee, claims that Democrats will hold no more such oversight hearings, or else...) Hilariously, this was Lott's explanation for why there should be no more hearings on the war:
Lott said he feared that DPC hearings, which have been conducted throughout the current Congress with little fanfare, could lead to increased partisanship.
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"[T]he practice of arbitrary imprisonments, have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.' Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 84, August, 1788
