John Kline: “I’m the Only One Allowed to Play Armchair General”
by Coleen Rowley
Our slick 2nd District Congressman John Kline had a hard time last week in answering Minnesota Public Radio’s survey of all ten members of the Minnesota congressional delegation as to their views about President Bush’s anticipated call for a surge of troops in Iraq. Opinions about what should be done about the mess in Iraq varied among nine of the ten Minnesota representatives and senators queried. 6th District Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, for example, explained in her comments that she didn’t know much about the situation in Iraq but was hoping to get a chance to travel there soon because she felt sure it would help her make up her mind. The only really surprising thing in the series of MPR interviews with the Minnesota Congresspersons was that, after repeated attempts to get 2nd CD Congressman John Kline (retired Marine Colonel who sits on the Armed Services Committee John Kline) to talk with them, he refused, with a staffer’s lame response that Kline “will sit this one out for no particular reason.”
Wow, we mused, this can’t be our John Kline, our quintessential warhawk John Kline, who’s repeatedly run on his military expertise; whose campaigns have almost entirely focused on his being the Marine Colonel who carried the “nuclear football;” who was one of the earliest voices in the country to advocate for “finishing the job in Iraq;” who has gone on four overnight junkets already to Iraq’s Green Zone so that, upon return, he could go on radio and other media to promote how much progress was being made by the Bush Administration; who has gone public repeatedly to defend the Bush Administration on their handling of Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and the Haditha killings; who lied that WMD were actually found in Iraq; and who has even advocated for possibly spreading the “war on terror” to Iran and other countries. Is it possible that Kline, like so many other early supporters of the war, has finally seen the light and is ready to admit he doesn’t know what to do about the mess in Iraq now?
Nah, we’d be giving him much too much credit. As it turns out, Kline’s lapse in commenting is apparently due to his own screw-up. It turns out Congressman Kline told the Rochester Post Bulletin last month that he “was glad the Iraq Study Group had rejected the idea of sending more U.S. troops to Iraq.” (The same news piece also has Congressman Kline gladly using his son, Army Major John David Kline, who returned last fall from a one-year tour of Iraq, to convey more of the Bush party line in confirming that withdrawing troops from Iraq would be bad for the region and for the U.S.)
So whether John Kline just hadn’t been updated on Bush’s new Urge to Surge, or whether he was misquoted by the Post Bulletin (which Mr. Kline probably already figures he’ll have to say, whether it’s true or not), Kline got himself, for once, cross-wise with his War President.
But today, one day from the big staged announcement about sending more troops to Iraq, Mr. Kline tried to get himself right with his Bush Boss. He told the Washington DC correspondent for the Minneapolis Star Tribune that “it's important for Congress to maintain oversight, but we can't run this war by committee. The last thing our country needs is 535 members of Congress assuming the role of armchair generals."
Oh my gosh! Mr. Kline is now worried about his congressional colleagues becoming armchair generals?! Only when they finally may exercise some oversight? And some might criticize or oppose Bush’s idiotic surge in Iraq?! When has our own little armchair general Kline ever been above using his own past military colonelship to support any and all Bush neo-con war initiatives?! Doesn’t his new quote equate to Kline saying, “I’m the only one who should play Armchair General”?!
We hate to tell Congressman Kline that he’s no longer a general. The truth is he never was. He’s now simply a federal congressperson who’s supposed to represent the interests and will of the people of the 2nd District of Minnesota, the overwhelming majority of whom oppose the Iraq War and oppose any escalation in the War. It seems the people of the 2nd District happen to be listening to the real generals.
Our slick 2nd District Congressman John Kline had a hard time last week in answering Minnesota Public Radio’s survey of all ten members of the Minnesota congressional delegation as to their views about President Bush’s anticipated call for a surge of troops in Iraq. Opinions about what should be done about the mess in Iraq varied among nine of the ten Minnesota representatives and senators queried. 6th District Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, for example, explained in her comments that she didn’t know much about the situation in Iraq but was hoping to get a chance to travel there soon because she felt sure it would help her make up her mind. The only really surprising thing in the series of MPR interviews with the Minnesota Congresspersons was that, after repeated attempts to get 2nd CD Congressman John Kline (retired Marine Colonel who sits on the Armed Services Committee John Kline) to talk with them, he refused, with a staffer’s lame response that Kline “will sit this one out for no particular reason.”
Wow, we mused, this can’t be our John Kline, our quintessential warhawk John Kline, who’s repeatedly run on his military expertise; whose campaigns have almost entirely focused on his being the Marine Colonel who carried the “nuclear football;” who was one of the earliest voices in the country to advocate for “finishing the job in Iraq;” who has gone on four overnight junkets already to Iraq’s Green Zone so that, upon return, he could go on radio and other media to promote how much progress was being made by the Bush Administration; who has gone public repeatedly to defend the Bush Administration on their handling of Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and the Haditha killings; who lied that WMD were actually found in Iraq; and who has even advocated for possibly spreading the “war on terror” to Iran and other countries. Is it possible that Kline, like so many other early supporters of the war, has finally seen the light and is ready to admit he doesn’t know what to do about the mess in Iraq now?
Nah, we’d be giving him much too much credit. As it turns out, Kline’s lapse in commenting is apparently due to his own screw-up. It turns out Congressman Kline told the Rochester Post Bulletin last month that he “was glad the Iraq Study Group had rejected the idea of sending more U.S. troops to Iraq.” (The same news piece also has Congressman Kline gladly using his son, Army Major John David Kline, who returned last fall from a one-year tour of Iraq, to convey more of the Bush party line in confirming that withdrawing troops from Iraq would be bad for the region and for the U.S.)
So whether John Kline just hadn’t been updated on Bush’s new Urge to Surge, or whether he was misquoted by the Post Bulletin (which Mr. Kline probably already figures he’ll have to say, whether it’s true or not), Kline got himself, for once, cross-wise with his War President.
But today, one day from the big staged announcement about sending more troops to Iraq, Mr. Kline tried to get himself right with his Bush Boss. He told the Washington DC correspondent for the Minneapolis Star Tribune that “it's important for Congress to maintain oversight, but we can't run this war by committee. The last thing our country needs is 535 members of Congress assuming the role of armchair generals."
Oh my gosh! Mr. Kline is now worried about his congressional colleagues becoming armchair generals?! Only when they finally may exercise some oversight? And some might criticize or oppose Bush’s idiotic surge in Iraq?! When has our own little armchair general Kline ever been above using his own past military colonelship to support any and all Bush neo-con war initiatives?! Doesn’t his new quote equate to Kline saying, “I’m the only one who should play Armchair General”?!
We hate to tell Congressman Kline that he’s no longer a general. The truth is he never was. He’s now simply a federal congressperson who’s supposed to represent the interests and will of the people of the 2nd District of Minnesota, the overwhelming majority of whom oppose the Iraq War and oppose any escalation in the War. It seems the people of the 2nd District happen to be listening to the real generals.
Labels: Iraq
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