Congress says Pentagon returning to "non-wartime footing" in Iraq

You've probably heard by now that the Pentagon's Inspector General overseeing Iraq is being canned. But relax, it's only because the war's over:

Mr. Holly, who is the House Armed Services spokesman as well as a member of Mr. Hunter’s staff, said that politics played no role and that there had been no direction from the administration or lobbying from the companies whose work in Iraq Mr. Bowen’s office has severely critiqued. Three of the companies that have been a particular focus of Mr. Bowen’s investigations, Halliburton, Parsons and Bechtel, said that they had made no effort to lobby against his office.

The idea, Mr. Holly said, was simply to return to a non-wartime footing in which inspectors general in the State Department, the Pentagon and elsewhere would investigate American programs overseas. The definite termination date was also seen as helpful for planning future oversight efforts from Bush administration agencies, he said.

So, despite whatever you've been hearing about permanent military bases in Iraq, and American military forces staying in Iraq for another three years or until 2017, whichever comes first, any reports about Iraq being the central front on the war on terror have as much credibility as a wad of plegm.

But seriously, even though AmericaBlog blames the GOP--they do run the Capital, after all--what I wanna know is, where were the Democrats on this when the provision was being added in conference and when it came back to the floors of both houses for votes? Hello?