On Sunday morning, on Meet the Press, the following exchange took place between Senator Jim Webb (D-Va) and Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC):
SEN. WEBB: You know, this is one thing I really—this is one thing I really take objection to...
SEN. GRAHAM: ...the soldiers are speaking, my friend. Let them win.
SEN. WEBB: ...is politicians who—at the...
SEN. GRAHAM: Let them win.
SEN. WEBB: Politicians who—may I speak?
SEN. GRAHAM: They want to win, let them win.
SEN. WEBB: Is politicians who try to put their political views into the mouths of soldiers. You can look at poll after poll, and the political views of the United States military are no different than the country at large. Go take a look at The New York Times today.
Follow me past the jump for more.
SEN. GRAHAM: The soldiers...
SEN. WEBB: Less than half of the military believes that we should be in Iraq in the first place.
SEN. GRAHAM: Have you been to Iraq? Have you ever been and talked to them? I’ve been seven times.
SEN. WEBB: You know, have you ever been to these—I’ve been—I’ve covered two wars as a correspondent...
SEN. GRAHAM: Have you been to Iraq?
SEN. WEBB: I have been to Afghanistan as a journalist.
SEN. GRAHAM: Have you been to Iraq and—have you been to Iraq and talked to the soldiers?
SEN. WEBB: You know, you haven’t been to Iraq.
SEN. GRAHAM: I’ve been to—I’ve been there seven times.
SEN. WEBB: You know, you go see the dog and pony shows.
SEN. GRAHAM: I’ve been there as a reservist, I have been there and I’m going back in August.
SEN. WEBB: That’s what congressmen do. Yeah, I have, I have—I’ve been a member of the military when the senators come in.[1]
Some Republican commentators have--dishonestly, I think--tried to portray Webb's remarks as an insult to our troops, implying that Webb had called our troops "dogs" or "ponies." This assertion on their part is, of course, false.
Webb was using the term "dog and pony show" in its modern connotation:
The term has come to mean any type of presentation or display that is somewhat pathetically contrived or overly intricate, or put on for purposes of gaining approval for a program, policy, etc.
He could have easily used the terms "Potemkin village" or "medicine show." Webb was getting at the essential fakery employed by the Republican Party to portray Baghdad as safe--the kind of brazen fakery that allows someone like John McCain to visit a marketplace in Baghdad with an escort of hundreds of troops and multiple armored vehicles and helicopter gunships and proclaim it safe.[2]
Jim Webb is too modest to blow his own horn, so bear with me while I do it for him. Jim Webb has walked down hostile streets wearing his country's uniform. He has been under fire, been wounded, killed his nation's enemies, and seen his comrades die--sometimes in his own arms. Webb was heavily decorated for his service in Vietnam and was rewarded for that service with several other positions of trust in regard to his nation's security. You can read Webb's citation for the Navy Cross here.
As a combat veteran, Senator Jim Webb knows the reality is very different than the "dog and pony" photo ops arranged for visiting Senators like John McCain and Lindsey Graham. That's what makes this story from ABC News so much more poignant to me:
"I challenge anybody in Congress to do my rotation," said Spc. Michael Vassell of Apache Company. "They don't have to do anything, they just come hang out with me and go home at the times I go home, and come stay here 15 months with me."
Apache Company was sent to Iraq in June 2006 for a 12-month rotation which has since been extended to a 15-month tour.
"It's a joke. We will have spent 14 months in contact, basically fighting all 14 months," said Cpl. Joshua Lake. "Our battalion got right to Baghdad & first week we were in Baghdad we lost two guys in our battalion [and] it hasn't stopped since."[3]
Senator Webb has already been there and done that, and he is fighting hard for soldiers like the one in this story.
How do those troops feel about Senators like Lindsey Graham?
"Because we have people up there in Congress with the brain of a 2-year-old who don't know what they are doing -- they don't experience it. I challenge the president or anyone who has us for 15 months to ride alongside me," Vassell said. "I [would] do another 15 months if he comes out here and rides along with me every day for 15 months. I'll do 15 more months. They don't even have to pay me extra."[4]
When it comes to issues of troop health and troop safety I will put my trust in a proven combat veteran and leader like Senator Jim Webb of Virginia.
Cross posted from The Richmond Democrat.