WASHINGTON (September 20, 2007) – Unable to achieve the passage of important legislation, such as yesterday’s attempt to provide relief to America's overextended military by mandating adequate time between deployments, the U.S. Senate today turned their attention to passing a resolution (S. RES. 315) which condemned an activist organization’s newspaper advertisement which challenged General David H. Petraeus on his statements made about Iraq.
Both of Maryland's Democratic U.S. Senators, Barbara A. Mikulski and Benjamin L. Cardin, voted in favor of the resolution. They joined 20 other Democrats who also voted for the resolution. The bill passed by 72-25.
MoveOn.org, a political activist group which has been very critical of the Bush administration, ran a full page ad in the New York Times which carried the headline, “GENERAL PETRAEUS OR GENERAL BETRAY US? – Cooking the Books for the White House.” The ad goes on to challenge the credibility of statements made by Petraeus in defense of the military operation in Iraq.
Other critics argue that it is not the role of the military to justify the Administration’s foreign policy and placing Petraeus in such a position is inappropriate.
Even though the advertisement makes no reference to anyone other than Petraeus, the Senate resolution makes it appear as though the men and women of the armed forced were attacked by the organization by saying, “That it is the sense of the Senate to strongly condemn any effort to attack the honor and integrity of General Petraeus and all the members of the United States Armed Forces.”
A cursory review of the moveon.org website shows that the organization is clearly anti-war. However, there is no indication that the group has ever attacked the honor and integrity of the troops.
Critics on both sides of the political spectrum say that Washington politicians are playing politics with the war in Iraq in order to ensure their victory in the important, upcoming 2008 elections. A Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday says that only 11% of Americans give Congress a positive rating. This is lower than the 29% approval rating given to President Bush in the same poll.
RELATED INFORMATION:
The MoveOn.org Petraeus Ad
https://pol.moveon.org/petraeus.html
Senate Resolution 315
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:s.res.00315: