He uses words like, "...I am concerned how that will sound to the American people."
The Congress tends to forget who elected them to office and I appreciate the use of the words "...the American people." It is good to hear those words in respect to the will of the country. The Congress forgets we are the people that pay the bills and have children that become soldiers and some go on to be generals, too. So the respect for the will of the people is very important.
He uses words like, "We are there to assist the Iraqi military to protect their country. We are not there to confront or have a war with Iran. That is a very clear distinction for the role of our advisers in Iraq."
Thank you.
We live in a world whereby the Congress uses the military as a political toy to the outcomes in elections. There are many times I believe the candidates to office need to apologize to the military for the use of them as an icon to elections. That is not the purpose of the military The USA military may very well be iconic, but, it is a function of the people of this country and it should never be used to banter about for power struggles.
All to often I think the focus of our military in elections distracts from the country's problems. The one problem no one ever addresses in elections is how old our military infrastructure has become because politicians don't care enough about the real readiness of the USA's military. Perhaps the next time Congress freely uses the iconic military as an election focus, the Joint Chiefs should speak easily and graphically about the disrepair of our infrastructure while candidates are on the subject..
At any rate, I thank you, General Allen. I appreciated the testimony you gave, yesterday.
