[fogarty]

By all means, avoid telling the truth about military readiness, especially in front of the duly elected, constitutionally mandated representatives in Congress. Just in case most people forgot, it is the US Congress, that retains the power to wage war. I would say that Rummy was out of line on this one. And he was definitely out of line for doing this in public, rather than taking these officers in private and chewing their ass. As it is right now, this will now attract ever more media scrutiny.

And I guess we'll find out soon enough whether these officers were telling us true about our readiness. (Hmm seems to me Bush and Rummy were singing a different tune about readiness 14 months ago....maybe they actually think they solved a decade worth of deterioration in only a year?)

[wardaddy]

I might actually agree with you about the privacy venue.

[DSHambone]

US Congress, that retains the power to wage war

The Commander in Chief has this job..Congress has the power to declare war, which in this case it has been too chicken sh!t to do. As for the truth - these guys might have 40-50% of the picture ...

[wardaddy]

However the brass in question didn't pay much attention to privacy either did they?

[El Gato]

US Congress, that retains the power to wage war

Not quite, they retain the power to declar it, and they must pay for it, but the Constitution clearly makes the President commander in Chief of the Military, and thus responsible for actually waging it.