Reid knows more about what's going on in Iraq than Petraeus

Military strategist and Majority Leader Harry Reid has determined that if Petraeus states that things are starting to improve in Iraq, then he won't believe him.

(via)

It's amazing to me that Reid, who isn't fighting and doesn't know what's going on over there, thinks he knows more than the guy leading the fight. The guy he voted to approve. What hubris!

Here's a letter from a guy who also knows more about what's going on over there than Reid:

n raw and emotional language from the bloody front lines, Cpl. Tyler Rock, of the 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, skewered Reid for being far removed from the patriotism and progress in Iraq.

"Yeah, and I got a quote for that [expletive] Harry Reid. These families need us here," Rock vented in an e-mail to Pat Dollard, a Hollywood agent-turned-war reporter who posted the comment on his Web site, www.patdollard.com.

"Obviously [Reid] has never been in Iraq. Or at least the area worth seeing . . . the parts where insurgency is rampant and the buildings are blown to pieces," Rock wrote.

Based in Camp Lejeune, N.C., Rock catalogued a series of grim daily traumas in Iraq, like getting covered in ash and sleeping under a dirty rug in an Iraqi family's house, or watching "several terrorists die" on the same strip of pavement.

But he says he is optimistic about the future of a country that he says has "turned to complete s- - -" during a bloody insurgency.

He also spoke admiringly of the risks brave Iraqi citizens take every day.

"If Iraq didn't want us here then why do we have [Iraqi police] volunteering every day to rebuild their cities?" he asked.

"It sucks that Iraqis have more patriotism for a country that has turned to complete s- - - more than the people in America who drink Starbucks every day.

"We could leave this place and say we are sorry to the terrorists. And then we could wait for 3,000 more American civilians to die before we say, 'Hey, that's not nice' again."

"And the sad thing is after we WIN this war. People like [Reid] will say he was there for us the whole time."

Keep at, Reid. Keep dissing the troops in a time of war. That's going to go over well in 2008.

Update: Here's Jonah's take:

I've long thought Reid was mostly an empty suit but not the sort of guy to get furious at. He's no ideologue, just a fixer-type. But when he says that he won't believe General Petraeus no matter what the General says, it's really pretty outrageous, particularly when Reid begins the interview by invoking Petraeus's judgment in his own defense. Apparently, he's pocketed all he needs from the General and so why bother listening any more. I'd rather he just put his hands over his ears and yelled "Nah-nah-nah-woop-woop-woop — I'm not listening — nah-nah-nah!" then listen to his soporific sophistry.

But isn't that just what he's doing? In effect he's acting on the same level as the two year old and not as a statesman should.