So Much for Listening to the Generals

The Dems ignore military leaders, as usual:

Judging by a lot of the rhetoric coming from the new Democratic majority in Washington, Democrats are not just stuck in a pre-9/11 mentality; they're stuck in a pre-1980s mentality. It's as if nothing has happened in the world since the fall of Saigon.

Before the election, we heard incessantly how reckless President Bush was for stubbornly refusing to listen to his own generals about the situation in Iraq. Gen. Eric Shinseki was referenced who knows how many times. A good president listens to his generals and sets military policy according to their advice, not the other way around, we were told ad nauseam. Rep. John Murtha rocketed to political fame by telling how his own sources within the military command disagreed with the president on Iraq.

The criticism helped bring the Democrats to power. And the first thing they did when they took charge was ignore the military command.

Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee last week, Gen. John Abizaid, head of Central Command, said of Iraq, "under current circumstances I would not recommend troop withdrawal." What are Democrats recommending? Troop withdrawal.

Following up on his Senate performance, Gen. Abizaid went to Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, where he told the audience, "We have not failed yet. I think we can win this fight. I think we are winning this fight."

The Democrats are not listening. In his Senate testimony, Gen. Abizaid agreed that Gen. Shinseki had been correct in his assessment that the United States should have sent more troops to Iraq in the first place. Gen. Abizaid was not simply mouthing administration talking points. But Democrats did not like what he had to say, so they simply ignored it.

Hmm, wonder how the backstabbing generals who featured so prominently in sticking it to Don Rumsfeld like the reality of Armed Services chairman Carl Levin?

I suspect they won't like it very much, but given their ample powers of self-deception, perhaps I underestimate them.