Stop Me Before I Vote Again

I always feel I need to say a kind word for anybody who fires generals -- or even threatens to fire them. The only thing better is shooting them -- and think how quickly the Civil War would have been over if Lincoln had shot McClellan. Would have established a valuable precedent, too.

Among generals currently in the news is retired Major Gen. John Batiste, a commander in Iraq, shown below shaking hands with another two-star while a three-star looks benignly on. (Why can't the damn Iraqis ever come up with an IED when it would really come in handy? Text continues below).

Batiste got his fifteen minutes of fame recently before a conclave of Democratic senators, who fell all over this bloodthirsty megalomaniac:

"Your statement, I believe, defines the word 'courage,' " Sen. Byron Dorgan (N.D.) gushed. Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.) pumped his fist and gave Batiste and his colleagues pats on the biceps. And Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) proclaimed, giddily: "This hearing today could change our country." ... Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), as the last questioner, invited the officers to comment on the effect of a specific withdrawal date.

"The result will be a civil war of some magnitude that will turn into a regional mess," Batiste said without hesitation.

The Dems love Batiste so much because he's a poster boy for their vapid strategy of running against Donald Rumsfeld. Batiste was apparently dissed by Rummy and now has a hard-on for the SecDef. Here are a few excerpts from Batiste's remarks:

There is no substitute for victory and I believe we must complete what we started in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Donald Rumsfeld is not a competent wartime leader. He knows everything, except “how to win.” He surrounds himself with like-minded and compliant subordinates who do not grasp the importance of the principles of war, the complexities of Iraq, or the human dimension of warfare. Secretary Rumsfeld ignored 12 years of U.S. Central Command deliberate planning and strategy, dismissed honest dissent, and browbeat subordinates....

The mission in Iraq is all about breaking the cycle of violence and the hard work to change attitudes and give the Iraqi people alternatives to the insurgency. You cannot do this with precision bombs from 30,000 feet. This is tough, dangerous, and very personal work. Numbers of boots on the ground and hard-won relationships matter....

... we must mobilize our country for a protracted challenge, which must include conveying the “what, why, and how long” to every American, rationing to finance the totality of what we are doing, and gearing up our industrial base in a serious manner....

Now I yield to no one in my loathing for Rumsfeld, but Batiste puts me very strongly in mind of a famous scene from Dr Strangelove:

General Jack D. Ripper: Mandrake, do you recall what Clemenceau once said about war?

Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: No, I don't think I do, sir, no.

General Jack D. Ripper: He said war was too important to be left to the generals. When he said that, 50 years ago, he might have been right. But today, war is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.

Substitute "terrorist" for "Communist" and you've got General Batiste talking to Chuck Schumer.

Of course, unlike Mandrake, Schumer is buying it.