Congressman Pete Stark (D-CA) embarrasses himself:
Yesterday, while voting on the war supplemental spending bill in the House of Representatives, I couldn’t help but notice a contingent of approximately 20 flag rank Army officers sitting in the House Gallery watching the debate and vote for a couple of hours. I was looking from below so I thought they were Army, but there could have been other branches present. It’s possible they were on leave time or vacation. If so, I obviously have no concern. However, if they were doing this on military time, I want an explanation of why they were there. At a time when our nation is at war, our troops are over-extended, and the Administration is literally asking for emergency military spending, what good to the “war on terror” is having US Generals and other top ranked officers – who were likely accompanied by staff and escorted by their chauffeurs – spending hours sitting in the gallery of the House of Representatives? Please provide for me the name, rank, branch, and duties of each of these officers, as well as the number of additional staff and drivers that were used to facilitate their attendance yesterday. I would like this information by Monday, May 19th.
Who were they? A class from the Army War College in Carlisle, Pa. Stark did not apologize for his moronic letter, but he did release a follow-up statement: “if these officers were hoping for a lesson in how Congress ought to work, then perhaps the Iraq supplemental wasn’t the best debate for them to witness.” Insulting military personnel out of ignorance is not how our Congress “ought to work,” but it is precisely how Congress does work–and the distinguished gentleman from California seems to have provided marvelous instruction. HT: QandO
