GET OUT OF IRAQ.

GET OUT OF CONGRESS.

This is the message, spoken loud and clear, by Maj. Gen. John Batiste and Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, two retired senior Army generals, both of whom served in Iraq and both of whom previously voted Republican. Both are now openly endorsing a Democratic takeover of Congress while bitterly condemning Bush's failures.

This comes close on the heels of a leading organization of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), giving most Congressional Republicans worse ratings on their handling of war, terrorism and veterans' issues than Congressional Democrats. (Above linked article only looks at the New York State delegation).

And, of course, we also have an entire slate of Iraq and Afghanistan war vets running for Congress, almost ALL of them Democrats who bitterly condemn Bush's handling of the war, terrorism and veterans' issues. Some 21 Fighting Dem candidates, running in some 16 states, are doing their best to defeat Bush's failed policies.

From top to bottom, those who know the most about Bush's war are condemning it and pusing for a Democratic takeover in Congress.

From Salon.com:

"The best thing that can happen right now is for one or both of our houses to go Democratic so we can have some oversight," Batiste, who led the Army's 1st Infantry Division in Iraq in 2004 and 2005, told Salon. Batiste describes himself as a "lifelong Republican." But now, he said, "It is time for a change."

Eaton, who was in charge of training the Iraqi military from 2003 to 2004, agrees that Democratic control of Congress could be the best way to wrest control from the Bush administration and steer the United States away from a gravely flawed strategy in Iraq. "The way out that I see is to hand the House and the Senate to the Democrats and get this thing turned around," Eaton explained, adding that such sentiment is growing among retired and active-duty military leaders. "Most of us see two more years of the same if the Republicans stay in power," he said. He also noted, "You could not have tortured me enough to vote for Mr. Kerry or Mr. Gore, but I'm not at all thrilled with who I did vote for."

An active-duty senior military official who also served in Iraq said that, among a surprising number of his otherwise "very conservative" colleagues, there is hope that Democrats will gain control of Congress. "I will tell you, in the circles I talk to, the only way to enable or enact change is to change the leadership," he said...

ut last spring a handful of retired commanders shook the military establishment to its core by publicly calling for the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. And palpable frustration and anger among officers over the Bush administration's Iraq strategy clearly is driving some to do what was previously unthinkable: switch their allegiance to the Democratic Party, at least for the time being.

That may also be the case among the rank and file. As Salon reported recently, there are signs that support for Bush and the GOP is eroding in a Virginia congressional district saturated with military voters. Salon has also learned that more than 100 current members of the military have now joined a campaign formally appealing to Congress to immediately withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq.

"The rest of us still in uniform cannot publicly articulate our own concerns, but there is a whole bunch of people out there who feel [this] way," said the active-duty senior military official. When asked if he was a Republican, he responded, "I was in the past." He railed against the Bush administration's head-in-the-sand approach to the war. "What do we have today? Holy shit. Now you have sectarian violence? That is a new term, by the way," the official fumed, emphasizing that before the war and even well into a volatile occupation nobody in the Bush administration "would even believe there would be an insurgency."

This is big news, folks. Truth is, Republicans have been failing to stop terrorism for decades now while Clinton and many Democrats were advocating for going after bin Laden, changing international finance laws to block terrorist funding, and energy independence at a time when Republicans were whining "wag the dog" and saying Clinton was too "obessed with al-Qaeda." Bush has failed on terrorism and failed in Iraq...just as he has failed economically and in terms of fiscal responsibility.

America is ready for a change. America is ready for new ideas. And the Fighting Dems are leading the way.

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