EXCUSE ME SENATOR, I appreciate your trying to make a point for the folks in Idaho...but not on the backs of servicemen who have just answered their nation's call. Sheesh...I wouldn't expect even Daschle to stoop this low...and you are a republican?

Baghdad's anti-aircraft batteries have proven less of a hazard to Air Force pilots than a fit of pique nurtured by one politician from Idaho.

U.S. Sen. Larry E. Craig has abused the Senate's rules to block the promotions and appointments of 850 Air Force officers for more than a month now. The senior Republican, supposedly a loyal supporter of the military, is peeved because the Idaho Air National Guard only received four C-130 cargo planes from the Air Force instead of the eight it was supposedly promised seven years ago.

The problem is much more than just a few officers not drawing their higher rates of pay. Senate approval is needed for specific appointments to the service's top spots. Among those officers who have not been able to take up their new posts due to Craig's blockade are Maj. Gen. John Rosa, who was supposed to be cleaning up a scandal-ridden Air Force Academy by now, and Gen. Robert H. Foglesong, who has been warming a chair in the Pentagon when he was supposed to have taken over as head of all air operations in Europe.

It is interesting to note that the only reason we, the people, are aware of this scandal is that some anonymous Air Force officers have leaked the facts to the press, specifically The New York Times. The story was quickly confirmed by Craig's own spokesman, who had the gall to go right on and say that the situation could be easily resolved if the Air Force would just reassign the four cargo planes.

But pleasing selfish senators is no way for the Pentagon to make strategic decisions about the deployment of its limited resources. Craig's obvious desire to make Boise's Gowen Field more important, and thus more likely to survive the next round of base closings, is pork barrel politics at its worst.

Amen to that...and the rest is here.