WASHINGTON – At a contentious House Armed Services Committee hearing with the Pentagon’s No. 3 official, lawmakers in both parties vented frustration Thursday over being kept out of the loop on major military operations. Many aired concerns that the 5-day-old conflict with Iran will deplete stockpiles, lead to a prolonged war and distract attention from other U.S. adversaries. Elbridge Colby, the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, assured lawmakers the conflict will end far more quickly than the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq, which lasted nearly nine years. And he asserted there’s a
WASHINGTON – At a contentious House Armed Services Committee hearing with the Pentagon’s No. 3 official, lawmakers in both parties vented frustration Thursday over being kept out of the loop on major military operations. Many aired concerns that the 5-day-old conflict with Iran will deplete stockpiles, lead to a prolonged war and distract attention from other U.S. adversaries. Elbridge Colby, the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, assured lawmakers the conflict will end far more quickly than the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq, which lasted nearly nine years. And he asserted there’s a