“Obama says conditions to dictate final Iraq force” but what has congress done?

[jody]

Obama says conditions to dictate final Iraq force

"We're going to have to provide them with logistical support, intelligence support. We're going to have to have a very capable counterterrorism strike force," Obama told the magazine while approaching Paris during a high-profile foreign tour, which included stops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"We're going to have to continue to train their army and police to make them more effective," the Illinois senator added, calling such support consistent with his proposal for a 16-month timetable for withdrawing U.S. combat troops.

Asked if he had a clearer idea after talks with diplomatic and military officials how big a force would need to be left behind for those tasks, Obama replied: "I do think that's entirely conditions-based.

As we get closer to 4 November, will the difference between Democrats and Republicans re fighting in Iraq become essentially cosmetic?

Will Democrats continue DoD’s stop-loss program that shanghais troops beyond their commitment to fight an unpopular war and die or be maimed for life when there are not enough active duty troops to fight and the burden falls most heavily on the poorest segment of our society?

Our 2004 Democratic Party platform makes grandiose promises to those who serve our country, see below, but how many of those promises have our representatives kept and who should believe us now?

STRENGTHENING OUR MILITARY
We need a new military to meet the new threats of the 21st Century. Today's American military is the best in the world, but tomorrow's military must be even better. It must be stronger, faster, better armed, and never again stretched so thin.

John Kerry, John Edwards and the Democratic Party will send a clear message to every man and woman in our armed forces: We guarantee that you will always be the best-led, best-equipped and most respected fighting force in the world. You will be armed with the right weapons, schooled in the right skills, and fully prepared to win on the battlefield. You will never be sent into harm's way without enough troops for the task, and never asked to fight a war without a plan to win the peace. You will never be given assignments which have not been clearly defined and for which you are not professionally trained.

The Bush Administration was right to call for the "transformation" of the military. But their version of transformation neglected to consider that the dangers we face have also been transformed. The Administration was concerned with fighting classic conventional wars, instead of the asymmetrical threats we now face in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the war against al Qaeda. To rise to those challenges, wemust strengthen our military, including our Special Forces, improve our technology, and task our National Guard with homeland security.

Expanding active duty personnel. As a first step, we will expand America's active duty forces. The war in Iraq has overextended our armed services. The vast majority of the Army's active duty combat divisions are committed to Iraq—currently there, preparing to go, or recently returned. That is a dangerous and potentially disastrous strain that limits our capacity to respond to other crises.

To pick up the slack, we've called up our Guard and Reserves at historic levels. Some have been on the ground in Iraq for as many as 15 months, much longer than was expected or promised. Many of these units are being pushed to the limit and stretched far too thin. The Administration's answer has just been to stretch further. They have extended tours of duty, delayed retirements, and prevented enlisted personnel from leaving the service – effectively using a stop-loss policy and recall of Individual Ready Reserve members as a back-door draft.

We will add 40,000 new soldiers – not to increase the number of soldiers in Iraq, but to sustain our overseas deployments and prevent and prepare for other possible conflicts. This will help relieve the strain on our troops and bring back more of our soldiers, guardsmen and reservists. We are dedicated to keeping our military operating on a volunteer basis. We are committed to management reform both to ensure that our defense funding is spent effectively and to help pay for these new forces.

Doubling Special Forces capability. Next, we need to create a "New Total Force," a military prepared to defeat any enemy, at any time, in any place. We will double the capacity of our Special Forces, the troops who took the fight to the Taliban with remarkable creativity after September 11th. These troops conduct counter-terrorism operations, perform reconnaissance missions, and gather intelligence. They also train local forces and build the relationships that are vital for our victory in the war on terror.

We will increase our civil affairs personnel – those who arrive on the scene after the major conflict ends to work with local leaders and officials to get the schools back in shape, the hospitals reopened, and the banks up and running. We also need more military police, because public order is critical to establishing the conditions that allow peace to take hold.

State-of-the-art equipment. Third, we need the best possible equipment. We can't have a 21st century military unless we're using 21st century technology and preparing our forces for 21st century threats. That means educating, training, and arming every soldier with state-of-the-art equipment, whether body armor or weapons. It also means employing the most sophisticated communications to help our troops prevail and protect themselves in battle. Every soldier in every unit should have access to technology that can mean the difference between life and death. We will make sure every solider does.

And we will build and train new forces equipped with the most-sophisticated technology to specialize in finding, securing, and destroying weapons of mass destruction and the facilities that build them.

The best training. Fourth, we must match our commitment to innovation with a commitment to the training, education, and facilities necessary to make the most of it.

Standing up for military families. Fifth, we will make sure that America's commitment to the men and women of our armed forces (our active duty, our reservists, and our national guard) and their families is ironclad. We will enact a Military Family Bill of Rights to ensure that our men and women in uniform and their families receive the benefits and respect they deserve: competitive pay and quality housing, decent health care and dental care, quality education for their children, and timely deployment information. And we will ensure that America will care for them and their families if the worst should happen.

Better use of the National Guard. Finally, we need to make better use of a key asset in homeland defense – our National Guard. The National Guard has served in every war, and they're serving now. They were the first ones called to line city streets, guard bridges, and patrol our airports after September 11th. We will make homeland security one of the Guard's primary missions, and assign Guard units to a standing joint task force commanded by a General from the Guard.