The needle on
my disgust meter is far into the red zone.
Last night I
watched the replay on C-Span of the grilling the House Armed Services Committee
gave Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel yesterday. It was another display of
crass political gamesmanship.
I hadn’t
gotten very far into the hearing until it became obvious there wasn’t any real interest
in getting the testimony of Secretary Hagel. And among every single Republican
on the Committee there wasn’t one single instance of interest in Sergeant
Burgdahl either, an American soldier held in captivity for five years by the
Taliban.
The sole
interest was about how Congress got its feelings hurt because they weren’t
consulted before the prisoner transfer.
Some of the
Democratic members also questioned the judgment of the decision to release five
Taliban prisoners for Burgdahl. But their questioning was reasonable and
respectful. But one Republican after another angrily peppered Secretary Hagel
with silly scolding and petty lectures.
The level of
hypocrisy in the room was in the stratosphere.
Some members
decided the reason the president did not consult them before Burgdahl was released
was because Congress (mainly Republicans) months earlier had not agreed to the
release. So several Republicans accused Secretary Hagel and the president of
going ahead with the plan because they knew Congress wouldn’t approve it.
Hagel said
that was not the case. The situation was that they simply had no time for the
30 day notice the statute required. He said the deal only fell into place at the last
minute and they had to act immediately otherwise Burgdahl might never have been
released and perhaps would have been killed. And, under the Constitution, the
president does have the authority to disregard any Congressional statute if he
believes it necessary in order to fulfill his responsibilities as Commander in
Chief.
But most of
the Committee members and way too many Americans are not interested in the
nuances of this complex prisoner release. Nor do they really care about the
agonizing realities of war. Or Sergeant Burgdahl. Or how the lives of our
soldiers are often held in the flimsiest balance of anything remotely sane and
reasonable. War is far more a scummy obscene business than it is some high act
of patriotic morality. But most of us don’t have the will or the courage or the
intellectual honesty to consider that.
Too many in
Congress, especially in the House, have proven over and over again they only
have one agenda. That is to obstruct and discredit president Obama and to
create as much chaos in our political system as is necessary for them to win
elections.
Had the
situation not been as immediate and the president and Secretary Hagel had
consulted Congress and allowed the 30 day notice to apply who believes
Republicans would have approved the prisoner transfer? I don’t for one minute.
They have made it abundantly clear they will never do anything, even if it’s
for the good of the country or for even one POW, if it in any way gives credit
to president Obama and the Democrats.
I agree that’s
a hopelessly cynical assessment of Congressional Republicans and even a handful
of Democrats. But I don’t see how anyone who is really interested in being
honest about it can see it any other way.
One soldier’s
life is spared from the cruelty of a foreign enemy. And all Congress cares
about is humiliating those who secured his release.
I don’t know about
you but that thoroughly disgusts me.
© 2014
Timothy Moody
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