Funny, I do not recall reading about Congress asking these type of questions before going to war with Japan. Could it be if you wait for your enemy to destroy you, all other points are moot?
Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, Mississippi Republican, said Democrats are still searching for an election issue as the opposition party. "When you don't have anything substantive to talk about, you start talking about process or how you need more information," Mr. Lott said. "That's what's happening here. Senators that are grouchy that they're not getting enough information ... they can't complain about the war on terror, they can't complain about the economy because the economy appears to be improving. And so what do they have to complain about? 'Oh, gee, I need more information.'"At the end of that article:
Mr. Kyl dismissed complaints that lawmakers were not being briefed adequately on the war, noting that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld would conduct another briefing for the Senate today. "It's not hard to be briefed by the administration," Mr. Kyl said. "Certainly, the majority leader has access to a lot more material than I do. Except for the specifics of operations ... that information is available to us by picking up the telephone."
Soooooo true.
"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."
Thomas Paine, 1778