Update: Welcome readers from The New Republic’s National Review’s The Plank [LOL! Boy, old habits die hard when you are rushing a post and your mind is on other matters! I am sure the Planck folks enjoyed that one, at my humble expense]. Sadly, the Plank overreacted to my post here (and I will accept some blame for my propensity to post with my tongue firmly in my cheek). While it is true a legislative act of removing civilian control of the military is a close cousin to how coup’s are enacted with a rubber-stamp legislature, I was in no way implying we are at the cusp of a coup d’etat. TNR should know better than to snear at precedence breaking laws and legal opinions – they have a tendency to erode and breakdown well established tenets. Maybe it was a bit much to assume they would connect the crux of this proposal to how it could be misused by others. – End Update

I have had the pleasure of talking to Rep Curt Weldon when the Able Danger story was running hot, and I honestly like the guy. I think he has guts and is one to fight the status quo when something is wrong. But his latest idea is, to be overly generous, not well thought out:

The second-ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, who is a strong supporter of the U.S. military mission in Iraq, has drafted a resolution that would give military commanders — instead of President Bush or Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld — decision-making authority over when American troops should return home.

That basically removes the military from civilian rule. And it means the generals could place as many soldiers in Iraq as well, (since troops are rotated through the theatre). This is just a hair’s breadth away from a military coup that I am surprised Weldon is seriously considering the idea. H/T Tom Bevan at RCP.