In today’s editorial, we examine the extent to which Congressional representatives have read General McChrystal’s strategy report for Afghanistan and the findings are a bit disconcerting.
Of the 61 House Armed Services Committee members contacted about the unredacted report, only 18 have responded thus far. Here are the results so far:
Have Read | Are Familiar | Cannot/Will not comment |
Solomon Ortiz, D-Texas | Robert Andrews, D-N.J. | Ike Skelton, D-Mo. |
Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas | Madeleine Bordallo, D-Guam | Loretta Sanchez D-Calif. |
Joe Courtney, D-Conn. | Joe Wilson, R-S.C. | Glenn Nye, D-Va. |
Joe Sestak, D-Pa. | Mary Fallin, R-Okla. | |
Buck McKeon, R-Calif. | ||
John Kline, R-Minn. | ||
Michael Conaway, R-Texas | ||
Doug Lamborn, R-Colo. | ||
Rob Wittman, R-Va. | ||
Duncan Hunter, R-Calif. | ||
Thomas Rooney, R-Fla. | ||
Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md. | ||
We will continue to update this chart as members respond, but we have asked around, and does not appear to be a violation of security rules to disclose that they’ve read a report the existence of which is public knowledge.
Many of the members who have not yet read the classified report have, in fact, read the report that was provided to the general public by the Washington Post. Many members as well, have actually spoken with General McChrystal about the situation in Afghanistan. Hopefully, before making any decisions on Afghanistan, everyone will read the actual report.
UPDATE 12-01-2009: Members of Congress are welcome to contact us to add their name to our list. Please email jpfreire at dcexaminer.com.