In a February 13 report for ABC's World News with Charles Gibson on the House debate of a Democratic resolution opposing the deployment of more U.S. troops to Iraq, ABC News senior national correspondent Jake Tapper cited two Army sergeants who condemned the resolution. But he gave no indication that the sergeants constituted a representative sample of military personnel, and if they did, how he had determined that they did. Nor did he indicate that in citing them, he was not purporting to provide a representative sample of military personnel's views. So it is not clear what point Tapper was making in quoting them -- that this was just the view of two service members willing to talk with him, or that this was the view of military personnel in general.

Tapper also simply asserted that Democrats were “trying to seem strong on military issues” by “lin[ing] up veterans of Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq as their first speakers in favor of the anti-surge resolution,” mouthing the view, commonly repeated in the media, that Democrats are “divided” or “weak” on Iraq and national security.

From the February 13 edition of ABC's World News with Charles Gibson:

TAPPER: Trying to seem strong on military issues, Democrats lined up veterans of Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq as their first speakers in favor of the anti-surge resolution.

REP. PATRICK MURPHY (D-PA) [video clip]: Walking in my own combat boots, I saw firsthand this administration's failed policy in Iraq.

REP. JOHN TANNER (D-TN) [video clip]: The problem here is not the stomach of the troops. The problem is the competency of the civilian leadership that's gotten us into this mess.

TAPPER: Democrats expect at least a dozen Republicans to vote with them, including Maryland Republican Wayne Gilchrest, a Vietnam veteran and former Iraq war supporter who says troops killed and wounded from his district have influenced his vote.

[begin video clip]

REP. WAYNE GILCHREST (R-MD) [video clip]: Dying and suffering is a part of the chaos of war.

TAPPER: But is that a reason to change policy?

GILCHREST [video clip]: It's a reason to change policy when what you're doing militarily is not working.

[end video clip]

TAPPER: But most Republicans criticized the nonbinding resolution as worthless.

REP. ADAM PUTNAM (R-FL) [video clip]: After all the tough talk we heard from the other side, this is a rather toothless 97 words.

TAPPER: And they said it would embolden the enemy.

HOUSE MINORITY LEADER JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH) [video clip]: And we know what Al Qaeda thinks when America retreats from the battlefield. They think that we can't stomach a fight.

REP. JACK KINGSTON (R-GA) [video clip]: If the troops in Baghdad watch what Congress was doing today, they would be outraged. Fortunately for us and the free world, they don't sit around and watch CSPAN and what silly politicians do.

TAPPER: ABC News asked these Army sergeants in Ramadi what they thought of the resolution.

1ST SGT. LOUIS BARNUM [video clip]: Makes me sick. I was born and raised a Democrat. But when I, when I see that, and, it just, kind of, it makes me sad.

SGT. BRIAN ORZECHOWSKI [video clip]: I don't wanna bad mouth the President at all. I mean, to me, it's treason.

TAPPER: It is a very simple resolution, Charlie [Gibson, host]. It basically just says that the Congress supports the troops but opposes the President's plan. It is not binding, it does not cut off any funding for the troops. But simple or not, Charlie, the debate, as you heard, was passionate.

GIBSON: Jake Tapper on Capitol Hill.