Randy Kuhl versus people who know what they are talking about…
(bumped. Yikes. I hope for Randy Kuhl’s sake, nobody makes this into a commercial. - btp)
In this corner, we have NY-29 congressman Randy Kuhl. He has no military experience, but did recently take a “fact finding” trip to Iraq.
And in this corner, we have Retired Army Major General (and registered Republican) John Batiste. He “served in Iraq twice, most recently in 2004 and 2005, when he was commanding general of the First Infantry Division. He also served as an assistant to Paul Wolfowitz when Wolfowitz was deputy defense secretary.” I’m quoting from Rochester City News (major hat tip to Fighting 29th).
Here we go…
Randy Kuhl: “Once you get through the apprehension, it (the situation in Iraq) really isn’t bad. You can almost forget you’re in a war zone” (link)
Retired Army Major General John Batiste (did I mention he commanded about 22,000 soldiers in Iraq?): “Kuhl fails to grasp the magnitude of our challenge in Iraq and his comments were truly stunning for their naiveté and inaccuracy.” (link)
Randy Kuhl: “I think our tax dollars are being well spent” (link)
Retired Army Major General John Batiste: “We continue to squander American blood and dollars at an astonishing rate.” (link)
Randy Kuhl thinks the troops will start coming home:
Kuhl said he expects about half of the 130,000 U.S. military men and women serving in Iraq to be home by the end of the year. “I am cautiously optimistic where we are headed.†“I expect to see significant numbers of men and women coming home.†(link)
Retired Army Major General John Batiste says we need to use more resources, not less:
What we need now is real leadership in our Congress and Department of Defense. We are at a point where our nation must decide whether to commit to the long haul in Iraq. If the answer is yes, we must mobilize our country for a three- to five-year effort to get control of the insurgency and set Iraq up for self-reliance. A new strategy must be produced and articulated so that we all understand the what and the why. We will need to commit more of our resources to ensure that the Iraqi Security Forces are ready to take charge sooner rather than later. We will need to engage with more regional actors so that they become part of the solution. (link)
Randy Kuhl: “Please vote for me”
Retired Army Major General John Batiste: “I wouldn’t give him (Randy Kuhl) the time of day or my vote, for that matter. I am a registered Republican, but it will be a cold day in hell before I vote for anyone who I don’t think is well informed and has the moral courage to make the right decisions.” (link)
You can read more about Kuhl’s Iraq trip (here, here and here).
Related posts:
If only we had video of Batiste and Kuhl making those statements. That would be one sweet commercial
Batiste was on Laura Flanders last night. I’m waiting for the pod cast. No favorable comments about our current representatives including Kuhl.
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