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THE U.S. "MAY NEED A BIGGER ARMY," DONALD RUMSFELD TELLS TIME

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RamboLiberal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Dec-21-03 02:13 PM
Original message
THE U.S. "MAY NEED A BIGGER ARMY," DONALD RUMSFELD TELLS TIME
http://www.time.com/time/press_releases/article/0,8599,565993,00.html

"We may need a bigger army," Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld tells TIME in this week's Person of the Year double issue (on newsstands for two weeks beginning Monday, Dec. 22). Rumsfeld has been under pressure from Congress to expand the military by at least two divisions, or 20,000 troops, TIME Washington Bureau Chief Michael Duffy and Pentagon Correspondent Mark Thompson report. The Secretary resisted that pressure over the summer and fall, but in his conversation with TIME, he said he was studying it more closely now, opening the door to a deal.

Rumsfeld tells TIME: "I don't see any analysis or any studies that persuade me that it should be larger or smaller at the moment. I'm commissioning them. I’m getting them done. And if they say we need a larger one, I will, with alacrity, recommend it, and it may very well be the case." But if he is flexible, it is only to a point. Rumsfeld remains firmly opposed to a return to the military draft. He has often said today's volunteers are smarter and more dedicated than conscripts, TIME reports.

"Secretary of War": In 2003 Donald Harold Rumsfeld, 71, was the very word of war: he planned it, he sold it, he strutted through a post-war landscape that is still far from tidy. Armed with a new doctrine of pre-emptive warfare, he spurred the military to fight lighter and faster than it had ever fought before, rewriting the battlefield playbook for perhaps a decade or more, Duffy and Thompson report.

Positioning the President as Reluctant Warrior: The White House was at pains to disguise, before the shooting started, any indication that a war was inevitable. The decision to go to war was Baghdad's, not Washington's, went the daily talking point. Job one was to position the President as a reluctant warrior. Any emphasis on what would come after a war would have put the President in a public relations bind, TIME reports.

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classics Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Dec-21-03 02:15 PM
Response to Original message
1. I feel a draft.
Did someone open a can of worms?
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PaDUer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-24-03 10:50 AM
Response to Reply #1
19. Have any of the
candidates spoke out about this?
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Rebel_with_a_cause Donating Member (933 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Dec-21-03 02:15 PM
Response to Original message
2. He just said the other day he didn't need a bigger army
Gotta love the "consistency." The only thing consistent about Rumball is his lying.
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prolesunited Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Dec-21-03 02:17 PM
Response to Original message
3. Well, I guess we will if the goals
of PNAC are to be realized.

The parallels with Nazi Germany are chilling. :scared: New enemy, same goals. Perhaps we won't commit such direct genocide, but our bombs seem to do an incredible amount of damage nonetheless.

I wish people would wake the fuck up! :grr: :grr: :nuke: :grr:
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0007 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Dec-21-03 02:47 PM
Response to Reply #3
6. The folks that aren't watching the whore networks are awake,
but are pretty much hog tied and muzzled.
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aquart Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-24-03 12:10 AM
Response to Reply #3
17. Just because we'll be killing Muslims instead of Jews
doesn't make it less heinous.

To achieve PNAC goals, we will have to kill Muslims in double not single digit millions. Hitler won't be able to hold a candle to us.

Just because they want to rule their own damn lands in their own stupid way.

Let's none of us pretend there is any other way to hold that oil as PNAC intends.

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Redleg Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Dec-21-03 02:19 PM
Response to Original message
4. A few months ago Rummy was talking about cutting two more divisions
The army has only 10 active division right now. Of course if Rummy cuts them he can always blame Clinton for "gutting the military."
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chelives Donating Member (2 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Dec-21-03 02:32 PM
Response to Original message
5. Bigger army to drive false patriotism
Why do we need a bigger army? Our only enemy is ourselves, true patriot Americans. You have to be very blind to see that Iraq was not a threat in the Middle East or America. I sense a draft in a vain effort to brainwash the youth of America into being patriot rebpublicans. Yes that is what the war on terror in Iraq was truelly about, bring a fever of blindness over the people of the U.S. that to be a true patriot you must be conservative. I aint buying it!
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Tinoire Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Dec-21-03 03:26 PM
Response to Reply #5
8. Welcome to DU Chelives!
Lots of us aren't buying any of this crap.

I have a different take on why they need a bigger army- PNAC lives basically and the patriotism will just be a welcome by-product.

:toast:
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IndianaGreen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Dec-21-03 03:28 PM
Response to Reply #5
9. Bigger army to take care of the unemployed
More canon fodder for the arms merchants and the PNAC cabal.
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Zero Gravitas Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-24-03 11:33 AM
Response to Reply #5
23. So many countries, so few soldiers
How can invade countries at our whim unless we have a bigger army. We can't move on to any other countries while still entangled in Iraq. They want to invade other countries (Syria, Iran, Canada etc.) but need to get out of Iraq first, which won't happen any time soon, so they need a bigger Wehrmac... I mean army to do it.
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JailBush Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Dec-21-03 03:09 PM
Response to Original message
7. Dumsfeld needs a bigger head. N/T
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Don_G Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Dec-21-03 03:36 PM
Response to Original message
10. And Regan Killed Communism Too
What the hell, we'll go out and manufacture enemies to "Keep America Strong."

And buying everything but the Kitchen Sink and peace.
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cliss Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Dec-21-03 04:34 PM
Response to Original message
11. Looks like he's inching closer....
to the realities. He knows, but he's not telling. Or at least, not openly. Here are the facts: Rumsfilled and his backers haven't even gotten started. Iraq was only the first bus stop of many other "projects". The one thing they need to complete these missions is Men. Soldiers.

The other fact is that our volunteer army is not big enough. I read recently on another post that 1/2 of all those serving will not re-enlist, according to a survey (if you need it, I will dig it out of the previous post).

The US does not have the manpower to accomplish these plans for world domination. The only solution is a draft. I've read on another post that even if a Democrat gets elected to the White House next year, they will still have to re-instate the draft. This will include women.

So the lying snake will continue to say 'no draft', but by next December, we will have a draft in place.

And the old excuses for getting out of it will not work any longer.
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loudnclear Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Dec-21-03 05:07 PM
Response to Original message
12. A vote for Bush is a vote for war. Spread the word!
No one can argue against that point. If the mothers and fathers of America aren't concerned about this, then God help them.
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velocity Donating Member (144 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Dec-21-03 05:15 PM
Response to Original message
13. Remember Bush's
“If called on by the Commander in Chief, two entire army divisions would have to report: Not Ready for Duty, Sir!” The Pentagon denied the charge.

Well the returning divisions from Iraq are in such bad shape that they are Not Ready for Duty.

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baldguy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Dec-21-03 05:58 PM
Response to Original message
14. We won't if we don't attack people who aren't a threat to us.
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opihimoimoi Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Dec-21-03 07:37 PM
Response to Reply #14
15. These Guys THINK they KNOW but in reality, they sure as Hell DON"T
Edited on Sun Dec-21-03 07:38 PM by opihimoimoi
Then they have the audacity to rationalize their guesswork.

First it was WMD

then it was Freedom for the Iraqi People

Then its Saddam,

Now with Quaddafi, its back to WMD AGAIN??!!!

What is it with these Pesky Pubs, are they that confused?

I Suspect, they just trying to muddy the water with these distractive shit.

Its all about Spice/oil/control/domination/greed
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Deesh Donating Member (176 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-23-03 11:27 PM
Response to Original message
16. Bigger Army
We wouldn't need a bigger army if we had a better foreign policy.

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Lydia Leftcoast Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-24-03 12:29 AM
Response to Reply #16
18. You've got that right, Deesh
and welcome to DU!

:hi:
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Zech Marquis Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-24-03 11:44 AM
Response to Reply #18
24. having an actual foreign policy
instead of blowing the shtit out of people for the BFEE is alot cheaper and safer...then agan, I actually studied international rlations, unlike these guys in the WH! :eyes:
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GinaMaria Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-24-03 11:04 AM
Response to Reply #16
22. That is a great line
Welcome to DU! We wouldn't need a bigger army if we had a better foreign policy, should be on a bumper sticker and protest signs.
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KansDem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-24-03 10:57 AM
Response to Original message
20. What the f**k is THIS all about...???
Co-Owns New Mexico Ranch with Dan Rather, among others: You would think, especially after Saddam's capture, that Rumsfeld could pack it in, go out on top and settle down in that ranch in Taos, N.M., that he co-owns with, among others, Dan Rather, TIME reports.

What the f**k is THIS all about?????

How has this the potential to influence reporting by CBS???
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malachi Donating Member (653 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-24-03 11:02 AM
Response to Original message
21. Let's see how the freepers and rw shitheads respond
when they receive their draft notices and realize that THEIR asses are on the line. True patriots all, I'm sure they won't have any problem reporting to duty to protect Amerika. Just like all the PNAC fucks did during Viet Nam.
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