Politicizing the Pentagon and Other GOP Nonsense

Rummy is as much a political operative as Rove and anyone who thinks otherwise either hasn't been paying attention or is a fool.

Attytood: Politicizing the Pentagon:

"The meetings were followed by the distribution of a 74-page briefing book to Congressional offices from the Pentagon to provide ammunition for what White House officials say will be a central line of attack against Democrats from now through the midterm elections: that the withdrawal being advocated by Democrats would mean thousands of troops would have died for nothing, would give extremists a launching pad from which to build an Islamo-fascist empire and would hand the United States its must humiliating defeat since Vietnam.

Republicans say the cumulative effect would be to send a message of weakness to the world at a time of new threats from Iran and North Korea and would leave enemies controlling Iraq's vast oil reserves, the third largest in the world. (The book, including a chapter entitled 'Rapid Response' with answers to frequent Democratic charges, was sent via e-mail to Republican lawmakers but, in an apparent mistake, also to some Democrats.)

So let's get this straight: Over in the Pentagon, they are busy managing troops that are now overtaxed not just by the endless insurgency in Iraq but also by a 'reinvigorated' Taliban in Afghanistan and a missile threat from North Korea; planning operations like the recent search for two kidnapped and ultimately murdered American soliders, securing more body armor, and so on and so on.

Yet somehow they found the time to write a 74-page briefing book with the sole purpose of trashing Democrats? It's hard to separate government and politics, but certain branches should be above the partisan fray, and that includes intelligence but also the folks who actually wage the wars. A lot of these same generals may be taking orders from a Democratic president (we said 'may') in January 2009, after all."