Intellectual disconnect
Senate Democrats -- and a few too many Republicans -- have gone schizophrenic when it comes to the new Bush plan for Iraq.
It should be noted that the Senate earlier this week confirmed Gen. David Petraeus by a vote of 81-0 for his fourth star.
The same Gen. Petraeus who during his Senate confirmation hearings endorsed the "surge."
Petraeus voiced confidence, however, in a new approach that would shift the focus to protecting the population by pushing tens of thousands of additional U.S. and Iraqi troops deep into Baghdad neighborhoods, one aimed at allowing Iraq's government to "come to grips with" what he called an "exceedingly difficult situation."
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"The way ahead will be neither quick nor easy, and undoubtedly there will be tough days. We face a determined, adaptable, barbaric enemy. He will try to wait us out," Petraeus told the Senate Armed Services Committee at a confirmation hearing. "Any such endeavor is a test of wills, and there are no guarantees."
Indeed, Petraeus promised simply to provide "the best leadership and direction I can muster" and "forthright" military advice, even if he concludes the mission is lost. "Should I determine that the new strategy cannot succeed, I will provide such an assessment," he said, reassuring senator after senator that he would speak up if he believed U.S. civilian leaders were making false statements about Iraq.
Twice a commander in Iraq, Petraeus won strong endorsement from both Democratic and Republican senators as one of the U.S. military's most talented officers -- but many also wished him "Godspeed" in leading what they described as the "last chance" for the U.S. military to bring stability to Iraq.
So, let's see if we can follow this one: President Bush = bad, evil, stupid (pick any 3) for sending 21,500 more troops into Iraq in an effort to root out the insurgents and al Qaeda terrorists.
This plan is such a bad idea that Senate Democrats (and a handful of Republicans) are planning a variety of non-binding resolutions which are little more than votes of no confidence.
At the same time all of this is happening, senators have the perfect opportunity to scuttle a plan that they profess to have zero confidence in -- they can refuse to confirm the general slated to execute the plan.
Instead, they confirm the guy! Unanimously!
The current Democrat strategy appears to be to posture, but not to actually do anything. They could vote to defund the war, but instead they plot to pass non-binding sense of the senate resolutions.
The only thing worse than the Democrats pulling this garbage is the fact that a few misguided Republicans seem determined to follow them off the cliff.
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[...] Sen. James Webb of Virginia was on Fox News Sunday this morning and host Chris Wallace confronted him with the intellectual disconnect that I mentioned a week ago: It doesn’t make sense to unanimously confirm Gen. David Petraeus for a fourth star and at the same time tout a meaningless nonbinding resolution castigating the plan he helped design and is tasked with implementing. Webb: That’s not an inconsistency in that. I voted for Gen. Petraeus and I don’t agree with the whole lack of national strategy. This administration has not had a strategy. It has continued to focus on the military side rather than the diplomatic side. [...]