Blumenthal: This Pollyanna army

[kskiska]

Bush will not admit that his troops are too exhausted to sustain his vengeful global missions


The most penetrating critique of the realism informing President Bush's second inaugural address, a trumpet call of imperial ambition, was made one month before it was delivered, by Lt Gen James Helmly, chief of the US Army Reserve.

In an internal memorandum, he described "the Army Reserve's inability under current policies, procedures and practices ... to meet mission requirements associated with Operation Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. The Army Reserve is additionally in grave danger of being unable to meet other operational requirements and is rapidly degenerating into a broken force".

These "dysfunctional" policies are producing a crisis "more acute and hurtful", as the Reserve's ability to mobilise troops is "eroding daily".

(snip)

Representative Tauscher wonders when the House armed services committee, along with the rest of the Congress, will learn anything from the Bush administration that might be considered factual: "They are never persuaded by the facts. Nobody can tell you what their plan is and they don't feel the need to have one."

On the eve of the Iraqi election, neither the president's soaring rhetoric nor the new secretary of state's fantasy numbers touch the brutal facts on the ground.

more…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1399501,00.html

[Felix Mala]

1. Send this article to everyone on your e-mail list

If we don't scream to the rooftops that Bush's inaugural dare on top of a weakened army leaves us vulnerable to attack, they'll deny it was on anyone's radar when it happens. Just as they have denied that anyone questioned their intelligence on WMD's before the invasion. There were lots of people who questioned the level of threat Saddam posed, mostly they were Democrats who were defeated in the 2002 elections.