Jen Psaki
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put senior national security officials in an incredibly awkward position when they are still tasked with things like, say, briefing members of Congress on the objectives for the war, our strategy for achieving them, and a timeline for how long it will take, and whether men and women are going to be sent, more of them, to fight a war that has not been explained.
And that all played out today when Pentagon officials gave a closed-door briefing on Operation Epic Fury to members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees.
That briefing was classified, but the reaction we got from lawmakers kind of tells you everything you need to know.
Because even Republicans came out of this epic fury briefing with some epic passive aggression.
Here was Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace's reaction.
Here's what she said, quote, "...just walked out of a House Armed Services briefing on Iran.
Let me repeat, I will not support troops on the ground in Iran even more so after this briefing."
And it wasn't just Republican gadflies like Nancy Mace who walked out of that meeting so upset.
Congressman Mike Rogers, the chair of the House Armed Services Committee, is generally considered one of the more serious national security voices in the circus that is the Republican Party.
And here's what he said.
And we're just not getting enough answers.
We just wanted them to tell us what's the plan.
And we didn't get any answers.
Repeatedly, we're having these folks sent over here to basically tell us very little.
Again, that wasn't a left-wing peacenik.
That was Mike Rogers, the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee.
Reporters then asked the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Roger Wicker, if he agreed with those comments.
His response was, quote, let me put it this way.
I can see why he might have said that.
There we go.