When he questioned General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker during the hearings, he didn't even show them enough respect to allow them to answer.
He badgered them.
Full transcript of Feingold's ornery remarks
(Excerpt)
FEINGOLD: How concerned are you about Al Qaida's safe haven in Pakistan?
CROCKER: We're all -- we're all quite concerned.
FEINGOLD: Which is more important to defeating Al Qaida, the situation in Afghanistan or that situation in Iraq, Ambassador?
CROCKER: I'd say just one...
FEINGOLD: That's surely within your expertise.
CROCKER: Yes, sir.
FEINGOLD: I mean, you were ambassador to one and ambassador to the other.
CROCKER: Yes, sir, which is why I'm addressing this. The challenges in confronting Al Qaida in the Pak-Afghan border area are immense, and they're complicated. I did not feel, from my perspective as ambassador to Pakistan, that the focus, the resources, the people needed to deal with that situation, weren't available or weren't there because of Iraq.
FEINGOLD: What's more important, though, to fighting Al Qaida, the situation in Pakistan or the situation in Iraq?
CROCKER: Senator, in my view, fighting Al Qaida is what's important; whatever front they're on. Fighting Al Qaida in Pakistan is critically important to us, fighting Al Qaida in Iraq is critically important to us.
FEINGOLD: But Ambassador, surely -- surely in a war, you have to have priorities. Some are more important than others. I would like to ask the general his response. What about the situation that we find in North Africa and the other regions? You obviously must take this into account in thinking about your role in Iraq.
PETRAEUS: I am not in a position to comment on the resources we have committed to the Maghrib or to other areas. General McCrystal does brief us about once a week on the overall situation, but it is clearly with a focus to how that is affecting Al Qaida in Iraq. For what it's worth, he, the commander of the joint special operations command, and the CIA director, when I talked to them a couple of months ago, agreed that their belief is that Al Qaida central seize Al Qaida in Iraq as their central front in their global war on terror.
That seems confirmed by the communications that we periodically see between Al Qaida central and Al Qaida-Iraq, although that could be changing as a result of the loss of momentum, to some degree, by Al Qaida-Iraq and it's something that we need to keep an eye on, clearly.
FEINGOLD: With all due respect, these two critical leaders here in our government, who I have great respect for, are not willing to seriously comment about how this relates to the larger global fight against terrorism -- the allocation of resources. This is a classic example of myopia. This is the myopia of Iraq that is affecting our ability to look at this as the global challenge it is. And by the way, General, I'd like to know, when will the level of American troops's deaths start to seriously decline in Iraq?
PETRAEUS: First of all, if I could just come back to your earlier comment, with respect, Senator, what this is is an example of a commander focused on his area of responsibility area. And that is my mission. It is to accomplish the military tasks that are associated with this policy, not to fight the overall global war.
FEINGOLD: I respect that and I understand, but I guess, in the broader context, here, of our discussions, this is the most critical hearing we've had and yet it's only about Iraq. But go ahead and please answer the question: When can we expect the troop deaths to decline in Iraq?
PETRAEUS: It might be, again, that Admiral Fallon or others would be the ones that, or the chairman, to comment on that. There has been a gradual reduction in deaths in Iraq, since about June, I believe it was. That, unfortunately -- in August, we suffered a number of non-combat related deaths due to two helicopter crashes, although the number of combat deaths was lower.
FEINGOLD: General, just let me follow...
PETRAEUS: We need to see what happens in ensuing months.
FEINGOLD: I want the American people to know that in every single month this year, January, February, March, April, May, June, July, and August, a significantly greater number of troops died than in the previous month in 2006 -- in every single month. And according to my information, there's already 32 this month. So, to suggest that there was some decline in the number in June and July, versus other months, does not address the fact that the number of troops' deaths has greatly increased. And I'm not getting an answer that even begins to suggest when we can tell the American people that the number of troop deaths will decline.
PETRAEUS: Senator, we are on the offensive, and when you go on the offensive, you have tough fighting. That was particularly true, again, during the period immediately after the start of the surge of offenses in mid-June and continued for a while. It appeared to have crested then and was coming down. And, again, we will have to see. We had a tragic loss yesterday, in fact, in some vehicle accidents, that again, you know, are just very, very sad.
Quite simply, Feingold's behavior was unacceptable.
His performance today was the last straw.
While a waste of time and annoying, Feingold had the right to make a fool of himself, demanding that Gen. Petraeus answer questions about the global War on Terror even though the hearing is about the mission in Iraq. Petraeus was there to testify on the situation in Iraq, not the global war; nor is it Petraeus' responsibility to fight the global war. The focus of his mission is Iraq.
It was a misguided line of questioning, revealing that Feingold didn't get why he was there.
I have no problem with him asking tough, albeit lame, questions.
I do have a problem with Feingold treating an American ambassador and general in such a disrespectful manner.
It made me sick when Feingold tossed out, "And by the way, General, I’d like to know, when will the level of American troops’s deaths start to seriously decline in Iraq?"
He really was saying, "And by the way, General, when are you going to stop killing our troops in Iraq?"
It's disgraceful the way some U.S. lawmakers have treated Gen. Petraeus and Amb. Crocker the past two days.
Feingold is a disgrace. He should be ashamed of himself.
I'm ashamed that a senator from Wisconsin acted so despicably, truly ashamed.
"Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness."
"Let us not assassinate this lad further, senator. You have done enough."
"Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"
(United States Senate)
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