For weeks now, the principal conservative talking point against a congressional resolution criticizing Bush’s war escalation is that debate undermines the troops and emboldens the enemy. The argument has been embraced by everyone from Dick Cheney to John McCain to Bill Kristol.
It is, unfortunately, demagoguery at its most insipid. War supporters can’t come up with a coherent defense of their preferred policy, so they’re left to question the patriotism of anyone who has the audacity to disagree with them. In testimony before the House Armed Services Committee this week, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Peter Pace and Defense Secretary Robert Gates rejected the premise of the far-right argument.
Pace: As long as this Congress continues to do what it has done, which is to provide the resources for the mission, the dialogue will be the dialogue, and the troops will feel supported.
Gates: I think they’re [the troops are] sophisticated enough to understand that that’s what the debate’s really about.
As if that wasn’t quite clear enough, Pace went on to say, “There’s no doubt in my mind that the dialogue here in Washington strengthens our democracy. Period.” He added that potential enemies may take some comfort from the rancor but said they “don’t have a clue how democracy works.”
And speaking of not having a clue, the White House apparently didn’t care for all of this dissent-appreciating discussion, and as Greg Sargent noted, put their own spin on what happened.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace testified before Congress, saying that they didn’t think Senate debate of the anti-escalation resolution hurt troop morale. The news orgs played the story as such, playing up fact that the two men’s assertions went counter to GOP claims that Congressional debate undercuts the troops and emphasizing the fact that Gates and Pace were saying that such debate isn’t a bad thing, after all.
Today the White House communications shop blasted out an email questioning that interpretation of the event.
To hear the White House tell it, the most important part of the hearing was Gates telling lawmakers, “From the standpoint of the troops, I believe that they understand how our legislature works and that they understand that there’s going to be this kind of debate. But they’re going to be looking to see whether or not they are supported in the realm of mission given and resources provided.” (emphasis in the original)
The White House really must think everyone outside the West Wing is a fool.
Maybe the Bush gang ought to re-read the transcript of the hearing — and pay special attention to the part about discussion “strengthening our democracy.”