California Democrat Howard Berman said he's not particularly exercised over the spat between the ranking Republican on his House Foreign Affairs Committee meeting and retired Gen. Barry McCaffery.
McCaffrey took exception to Ileana Ros-Lehtinen's aggressive questioning and suggested she not only questioned his national security creds — he's the former commander of the U.S. Southern Command and a former U.S. drug czar — but also denigrated him by calling him "Mr." and not "General."
Asked whether "anyone went too far," at the hearing, Berman at first said he'd refrain from stepping into the mix.
"I'd advise myself to not comment," the commitee chairman said, adding that "By and large, I err on the side of letting it all hang out there. So, I don't think anyone should be hauled to the Ethics Committee for anything that was said today. And the General gave back as well as he took."
Ros-Lehtinen said it was also pointed out to her that she neglected to call James Cason — the former chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana — "Ambassador Cason." Cason, of course, sides with Ros-Lehtinen and says lifting the ban on travel to Cuba would "amount to giving away future leverage for nothing in return."
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