Oversight

Since oversight is a concept not included in the GOP handbook on governance, the Democrats today will hold hearings on the Iraq war. Scheduled to appear are three retired generals critical of Donald Rumsfeld and his handling of the war. The quotes from the generals are predictable enough, "the administration did not tell the American people the truth for fear of losing support for the war in Iraq" and "Mr. Rumsfeld and his immediate team must be replaced or we will see two more years of extraordinarily bad decision-making," but it's this GOP quote in response to these respected men that has me riled up.

Even before the session convened, Republicans counter-attacked.

"Today's stunt may rile up the liberal base, but it won't kill a single terrorist or prevent a single attack," Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in a statement. He called Rumsfeld an "excellent secretary of defense."

Mitch McConnell should be ashamed. Hearings such as these may not "kill a single terrorist or prevent a single attack," but they may save a bunch of soldiers lives, not to mention a bunch of Iraqi lives. The hearings today are not a stunt, and they certainly not about the war on terror. They are about the utter incompetence of the administration's handling of the Iraq war. In blurring the terror lines once again, Senator McConnell does a disservice to the men on the ground, and to the men who have served and now find the need to question what they have seen.

If Mitch McConnell and his GOP buddies on Capital Hill had done their jobs in the first place, hearing such as these would not be necessary.

Oversee more.