Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen: "since when is the GAO qualified to evaluate a war?"

http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=3018880&C=america

<snip>

“I just feel uncomfortable listening to reports by the Government Accountability Office about a war effort and about Iraqi benchmarks. It just doesn’t seem to fit,” Ros-Lehtinen said. “I’m used to reading reports from the GAO about student loan compliance, about Medicare programs.”
But since when is the GAO qualified to evaluate a war?
“I’m not saying that you’re bean counters,” Ros-Lehtinen told Walker, who heads the GAO.

...

“I can’t fathom why you are saying to us the Army is stretched too thin. What in the world qualifies you to say that?” demanded Ros-Lehtinen, who is the highest-ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
“People at the Pentagon have said that,” Walker replied.
Indeed, senior military officials, including Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey, have warned for months that the Army will start running short of soldiers. In August, for example, Casey acknowledged that, “The demand for our forces exceeds the sustainable supply.”

...

“I worry that (the GAO’s report) seems to be having a lot of credibility that I think is unwarranted with the American public,” she said.
Rep. Gene Green, D-Texas, reminded Ros-Lehtinen it was Congress that ordered the GAO to evaluate military and political progress in Iraq. “You’re attacking the messenger instead of the message,” he told her.
In his report, Walker, too, noted that in the 2007 Defense Appropriations Act, Congress required the GAO report on how well the Iraqi government was meeting benchmarks that were set by Congress.