Talking to the military

Senate critics of our war effort in Iraq got to talk to military leaders in Iraq and didn't seem to hear what they wanted to hear. Hillary Clinton got to try out one of her campaign slogans on General Abizaid and he handed it right back to her.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) took exception with Abizaid's talk of all the steps that the Iraqi government needs to take. "Hope is not a method," she told him. "We've had testimony now for four years about what 'must be done' -- and it doesn't get done."

Abizaid shot back: "I would also say that despair is not a method."

Other critics got to hammer away at him with their favorite prescriptions for Iraq but Abizaid resisted adding more American forces to Iraq now and also the favorite idea of Joe Biden, splitting Iraq into three separate countries.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) took exception with Abizaid's talk of all the steps that the Iraqi government needs to take. "Hope is not a method," she told him. "We've had testimony now for four years about what 'must be done' -- and it doesn't get done."

Abizaid shot back: "I would also say that despair is not a method."

Abizaid admitted mistakes made at the beginning of the war by not having more forces and de-Baathification of the Iraq army.

So, if Congress thinks that they can run military policy in Iraq, as some of the pronouncements of the new Democratic leaders implies, are they going to recommend something other than what the military commanders on the ground believe should be done?

The top U.S. commander for Iraq rejected yesterday proposals from Senate Democrats to immediately pull troops from Iraq or do it on a specific timetable starting in March.
"Our troops' posture needs to stay where it is as we move to enhance the capabilities of the Iraqi security forces," Gen. John Abizaid, the head of U.S. Central Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee, "and then we need to assess whether or not we can bring major combat units out of there."
His response was, in effect, a dismissal of a proposal from incoming Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin, Michigan Democrat, for a phased withdrawal to begin in four months, and from Rep. John P. Murtha, Pennsylvania Democrat, for an immediate pullout.

So, will the Democrats press ahead with their recommendations even if the military advises against it? Does Darl Levin still think that he knows better than General Abizaid?

And if the Democrats yield to Abizaid's recommendations, how are they doing anything different than President Bush?