Mike Levin: “If there was no staff workup on that issue, it would be shocking. There surely should have been staff work on the…”

“If there was no staff workup on that issue, it would be shocking. There surely should have been staff work on the question of how many troops it would take to secure a country after its occupation. There have been a number of press reports to the effect that there in fact were some assessments as to how many troops, but I have never seen that assessment. If it did not exist, it would be pretty serious mismanagement, it seems to me, and if it does exist, we ought to get a copy of it. Either way, I think General Shinseki was mistreated. He was the subject of calumny, almost, inside the civilian part of the Defense Department, for expressing an opinion. I know my friend, the chairman, would agree with me that when a military officer is asked a question, he is required by a commitment that he makes to us when he is before us for confirmation to give us his honest professional judgment, and he was pressed by me to give us that judgment. He said he couldn't be specific, and then I pressed him to give us a range and he said: Several hundred thousand. The reaction to that amongst the civilians is that is widely off the mark. He paid a price he never should have paid for giving an honest opinion to a congressional committee.”