Today in Washington D. C. - Oct 6, 2009 - Democrats' Amazing Hypocrisy Concerning Listening To Generals

The Senate began consideration of the nomination of Thomas Perez to be Assistant Attorney General and then will vote on cloture which is expected and then will vote on confirming the nomination. At 2:30 p.m., congressional leaders will gather at the White House for a briefing on Afghanistan. Subsequently, the Senate will resume consideration of the $636 billion fiscal 2010 Defense appropriations bill, H.R. 3326. There will then be up to 13 votes on amendments to the bill, followed by a vote on final passage.

As congressional leaders head to the White House today to meet with President Obama about a way forward in Afghanistan, there is a building controversy with Democrats over General Stanley McChrystal, the commander in Afghanistan, advocating for more troops to implement a counterinsurgency strategy. Gen. McChrystal seems to be taking more and more heat from Democrats and administration officials for speaking out publicly about his plans.  This is frankly incredible coming from a party that spent several years demanding that former President George W. Bush “listen to the generals.”

The controversy over Gen. McChrystal’s plan began last week in the wake of his report on Afghanistan and a speech he gave in London. The Washington Post reported:

“In a three-hour meeting Wednesday at the White House, senior advisers challenged some of the key assumptions in Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal’s blunt assessment of the nearly eight-year-old war, which President Obama has said is being fought to destroy al-Qaeda and its allies in Afghanistan and the ungoverned border areas of Pakistan. . . . White House officials are resisting McChrystal’s call for urgency, which he underscored Thursday during a speech in London, and questioning important elements of his assessment, which calls for a vast expansion of an increasingly unpopular war. One senior administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the meeting, said, ‘A lot of assumptions -- and I don’t want to say myths, but a lot of assumptions -- were exposed to the light of day.’”

The Wall Street Journal notes, “Retired Gen. James Jones, Mr. Obama’s national security adviser, on Sunday appeared to suggest Gen. McChrystal had gone outside normal channels when he gave the speech. ‘Ideally, it’s better for military advice to come up through the chain of command,’ Gen. Jones said on the CNN program ‘State of the Union.’” A Washington Post story from today adds, “Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates cautioned military and civilian leaders Monday against publicly airing their advice to President Obama on Afghanistan, just days after the top U.S. general in that country criticized proposals being advocated by some in the White House.” And according to The Hill, “It has been ‘odd’ for Gen. Stanley McChrystal to speak out so publicly about his opinions on strategy for Afghanistan, Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) said Tuesday.”

For those who recall Democrats’ reactions to any questions, complaints, or critiques of President Bush’s war strategy during the previous administration, these complaints from Democrats and the White House about Gen. McChrystal look like a complete reversal. In 2006, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), “You don’t give up your citizenship in the United States, when you’re in the military or when you’re outside of it. . . . And those generals have the right -- indeed, I think they have a duty and an obligation -- to stand up and tell the truth.” In 2007, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said to CNN’s Larry King, “[D]on’t take it from me. Just listen to the generals. General after general after general has said that this course of action is not going to bring our troops home soon.” And a year before that, Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), now the Senate Majority Leader, said, “We know that Secretary Rumsfeld ignored the advice of the uniformed military and went into battle with too few troops and no plan to win the peace.” And in January 2007 Reid was saying to the National Press Club, “Listen to the generals.”

Now, Jim Jones is saying, “Ideally, it’s better for military advice to come up through the chain of command,” and Jim Webb says Gen. McChrystal’s speeches are “odd”? It appears that for Democrats what constitutes acceptable debate on war strategy and even criticism of the president seems to depend on who’s in the White House. Jones some how has forgotten that Gen. McChrystal is the commanding general and the Pentagon staff is not in that chain of command for war operations.

While most Americans want the enemy terrorists defeated in the field, if politics is going to prevent Generals from speaking out on operations and the need to both minimize troop losses and defeat the enemy, then bring the troops home from Afghanistan and use extreme measures to end the controversy in Afghanistan.

During Vietnam Conflict (WAR), we had similar issues. Generals were forced to compromise reporting the truth by the Johnson administration and to accept operational conditions for military in the field that were subject to the bureaucracies of both the United States and South Vietnam. These operational conditions placed our military at risks and resulted in the deaths of many of American's finest. Those of us who remember should be demanding that the President, who lacks military experience, and his administration listen to General McChrystal’s blunt assessment. Bluntness may be tough but it is needed. In fact, Obama should be thankful for McChrystal's honest appraisal especially as we have troops serving in harms way or being prepared to serve in harms way. Any other actions by President Obama or his administration which results in further deaths of Americans will be a permanent stain on Obama's historical record as commander-in-chief, a prime responsibility of a president.

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