GOPs' Chambliss Compares Iraq Troop Rotations to WWII

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GOP's Chambliss Compares Iraq Troop Rotations To WW II

 

 

By Bob Geiger

Created Jul 13 2007 - 10:05am

 

 

It's no secret that Republican Saxby Chambliss of Georgia is not considered

one of the deepest thinkers in the United States Senate. He doesn't do a

hell of a lot legislatively and, after all, he only got there by the

swift-boating of highly-decorated Vietnam Veteran Max Cleland, whose Senate

seat Chambliss took in 2002 by running television ads depicting Cleland with

Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein.

 

And since coming to the Senate, his tenure has been most notable to the

extent that, even in a Congress characterized by Republicans who serve

solely as rubber stamps for George W. Bush, he's among the most compliant

even by that lot's sorry standards.

 

So it's no surprise that Chambliss went to the Senate floor this week to

argue against Virginia Democrat Jim Webb's bill [1] to mandate more time at

home for Iraq combat troops before Bush could sent them right back into

battle. What is amazing is the sheer stupidity of what he said.

 

"It is an unwise and harmful effort to limit the ability of the President

and his military leaders and handicap their use of personnel and resources

available to them," said Chambliss, in arguing for sending troops back to

Iraq with insufficient rest and medical care.

 

Now, that's just spin and not the really dumb thing -- though one could

wonder how anyone could at this point rant about how we should let a proven

incompetent like Bush manage a game of Monopoly, much less the U.S. military

after the mess he's made of things.

 

But have a look at what Chambliss said about how troops in World War II were

deployed for much longer and how he tried to use that as a stick with which

to beat Webb for being "out of step with history" in his efforts to keep

military men and women home longer with their families:

 

 

 

"Senator Webb's amendment would preclude deployment of certain active and

reserve forces based on the number of days they have spent at home. Keep in

mind these restrictions would apply to the Nation's most experienced and

capable troops during a time of war when we face an unpredictable and highly

adaptive enemy.

 

"Keep in mind that during World War II and other wars of this country,

service members participating in those wars deployed for 3 and 4 years with

little or no break. With this in mind the current proposal by Senator Webb

seems out of step with history and what it has taken to win the wars of this

country. I can think of no way in which the Webb amendment will help our

Nation succeed in Iraq."

 

Leave it to a Republican desperate to bail out Bush, to compare World War II

and the gravity of that global conflict with Bush's war of choice about

absolutely nothing.

 

And here's the real kicker: Chambliss cynically uses the work ethic of

America's troops as a bizarre frame of reference for how Democrats really

aren't supporting the troops by taking them out of the Iraqi civil war so

they can spend more time with their families.

 

"Public approval ratings for the President and for Congress may be at all

time lows, but the admiration of the American people for our military only

gets higher. Why? Well, one reason is they take their responsibilities

seriously and they train, prepare, and plan to win," he said. "And we should

let them win -- not legislate a recipe for failure which the amendment

clearly does."

 

I'm sure that the average soldier would have a real hard time with that

"recipe for failure" when he or she is getting to sleep late with a spouse

on Sunday morning or attend their child's Little League game this summer

instead of being stuck in the middle of a firefight in Fallujah.

 

And I know you're wondering, given that both Webb and his bill's cosponsor,

Republican Chuck Hagel, are Vietnam combat Veterans, about the military

record of a blood-and-guts guy like good old Saxby.

 

You guessed it -- he didn't do time in the military. He got a student

deferment so he could attend law school and was subsequently given a medical

deferment because of a bad knee.

 

But now, that's really no surprise, is it?

_______

 

 

 

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"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their

spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their

government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are

suffering deeply in spirit,

and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public

debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have

patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning

back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at

stake."

-Thomas Jefferson