Pelosi: Extending Tours of Duty Is an Unacceptable Price for Our Troops and Their Families

[bigtree]

WASHINGTON, April 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Speaker Nancy Pelosi
released the following statement today on the Bush Administration's
announcement that all active-duty Army personnel in Iraq will serve
15-month tours, three months longer than usual:

"Today's announcement just underscores the fact that the burden of the
war in Iraqhas fallen upon our troops and their families. The Bush
Administration has failed to create a plan to fully equip and train our
troops, bring them home safely and soon, and provide our veterans with the
quality care they deserve.

"Extending the tours of all active-duty Army personnel is an
unacceptable price for our troops and their families to pay.

"Democrats have offered a new direction in Iraq -- one that would bring
our troops home safely and soon. We encourage President Bush to sit down
with us to find a solution to bring this war to an end."

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=ind_focus.story&STORY=/www/story/04-11-2007/0004563874&EDATE=WED+Apr+11+2007,+06:17+PM

[TwilightGardener]

1. My husband was deployed for a year to Korea, and it was pretty

safe, as long as you stayed away from the kimchee. It was the longest, most awful year of my life, and I didn't even have to worry about him. I can't even imagine my feelings of rage and disappointment at being told that he would have to spend another dangerous 3 months in that Iraq hell-hole, after a full year away. How awful for these folks.

[Horse with no Name]

2. My sentiments exactly.

The mediacrasy is painting a picture of "it's only three months"...but if you look through the thousands of stories of our soldiers killed, you will find that many of them were killed days before they were to come home.
Three months is a lifetime in that hellhole and multiplies their chances to get killed exponentially. Ask any soldier who has been over there.

[Beaverhausen]

3. This little trick of Bush, blaming the dems for extending tours, is the lowest thing he has done

and that's saying something.

I hope the media reminds people who is really the one who is not compromising here.

[bigtree]

4. it is really the lowest

he forced them out there knowing the intent of Congress and the will of the American people that he end his bloody occupation; now he's threatening us with their lives for the money and unlimited power he says he wants.

[Beaverhausen]

5. What will he come up with next? I mean, you keep thinking he can't get any worse

then he does.

[Solly Mack]

6. The entire invasion has been "an Unacceptable Price for Our Troops and Their Families"

[Beaverhausen]

7. I just hid about 15 Imus threads- can we get on with some real news?

[seabeyond]

8. i was told by a military mom her son is there for 18 mnths. that is how

long the tours are. why the difference?

[Daedelus76]

9. Call me heartless

But I'm not so worried about "the troops". They signed up freely, and basicly the military owns you once you sign your papers. It always has been that way. Soldiers can be expected to be seperated from their families, and even to lay down their lives in the line of duty. Don't like it, don't sign up.

What Americans should be really worried about is the long term cost of the war in terms of money and lost human potential and earning power. It's like global warming. People are going to be paying for this thing for years, and the longer we wait to do something, the worse it will be.

Just consider the amount of money that's been spent so far. It's getting closer and closer to a trillion dollars. How many other things could we have done with this money, things that actually help people? And then you have all the PTSD and traumatic brain injuries comming back from Iraq. These will have costs on all Americans, not just soldiers and their families. And for what? For nothing. There's really no reason to be in Iraq that's worth the money being spent on it. The finances alone dictate that the war end soon.

The "for the troops" arguement is not going to fly with some Americans, because honestly the rhetoric of sacrifice just buys into the right wing, and it's a cost most Americans don't immediately notice since we have an all-volunteer force. Talk about the monetary costs and the negligible benefits, and it hits home- the war is folly. Spending trillions to make an Israeli Prime Minister or some oil CEO's sleep better at night is not worth it, not when taxpayers are footing the bill.