Posted on 09/30/2006 5:32:47 PM PDT by mathprof
Even if there were a case for staying the current course in Iraq, America’s badly overstretched Army cannot sustain present force levels much longer without long-term damage. And that could undermine the credibility of American foreign policy for years to come.
The Army has been kept on short rations of troops and equipment for years by a Pentagon more intent on stockpiling futuristic weapons than fighting today’s wars. Now it is pushing up against the limits of hard arithmetic. Senior generals are warning that the Bush administration may have to break its word and again use National Guard units to plug the gap, but no one in Washington is paying serious attention. That was clear last week when Congress recklessly decided to funnel extra money to the Air Force’s irrelevant F-22 stealth fighter.
As early as the fall of 2003, the Congressional Budget Office warned that maintaining substantial force levels in Iraq for more than another six months would be difficult without resorting to damaging short-term expedients.[snip]
These emergency measures have taken a heavy toll on combat readiness and training, on the quality of new recruits, and on the career decisions of some of the Army’s most promising young officers. They cannot be continued indefinitely.
Now, with the security situation worsening in both Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon concedes that no large withdrawals from either country are likely for the foreseeable future. As a result, even more drastic and expensive steps could soon be needed. The most straightforward would be to greatly increase the overall number of Army combat brigades. That would require recruiting, training and equipping the tens of thousands of additional soldiers needed to fill them.
Yet the Pentagon and Congress remain in an advanced state of denial.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
The Army has been kept on short rations of troops and equipment for years by a Pentagon more intent on stockpiling futuristic weapons than fighting today’s wars. Now it is pushing up against the limits of hard arithmetic. Senior generals are warning that the Bush administration may have to break its word and again use National Guard units to plug the gap, but no one in Washington is paying serious attention. That was clear last week when Congress recklessly decided to funnel extra money to the Air Force’s irrelevant F-22 stealth fighter.
From the military experts at the NYT. How many years' collective military experience do the NYT editors have, anyway? Seriously?
Click on link and see what I mean.
Let's shut off the federal money tap to favorite liberal projects and funnel the money into the military. Alternately, a national tax on "organic" foods and latte to buy weapons systems and body armour.
BS. The US Congress JUST passed a bill yesterday that adresses all of this. Guess the NY Slimes just could not pass up republishing the latest DNC Talking Poing memo to actually report the truth.
...and what really burns me is that this has to be discussed in public during wartime, since our government has not been properly taking care of business.
if you read the article there is not a single quote in the entire thing...just make it up as it goes along...
I wonder if they'll do an editorial on the Army achieving recruiting, retention goals...
http://www4.army.mil/ocpa/read.php?story_id_key=9607
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :
Hysteria \Hys*te"ri*a\, n. [NL.: cf. F. hyst['e]rie. See
Hysteric.] (Med.)
A nervous affection, occurring almost exclusively in women,
in which the emotional and reflex excitability is
exaggerated, and the will power correspondingly diminished,
so that the patient loses control over the emotions, becomes
the victim of imaginary sensations, and often falls into
paroxism or fits.
[1913 Webster]
Note: The chief symptoms are convulsive, tossing movements of
the limbs and head, uncontrollable crying and laughing,
and a choking sensation as if a ball were lodged in the
throat. The affection presents the most varied
symptoms, often simulating those of the gravest
diseases, but generally curable by mental treatment
alone. Hysteric
The N.Y. Times and the Democrats in general are engaged in wishful thinking. They hope that our troops will be killed and wounded, and that the United States will appear to lose the war on terror while Bush is in office. They are totally frustrated and disappointed that there have been no terrorist attacks in the United States since 9/11/01.
Let me get this straight - the bozos at the NYT are concerned about undermining the credibility of American foreign policy for years to come, yet they are pushing for the US to surrender and withdraw from Iraq. Clearly they believe that their readers are idiots, utterly bereft of critical thinking skills (either that, or the writer is an idiot utterly bereft of critical thinking skills)...
There is no newspaper in the nation that knows less about military affairs than the NYT.
These reporters are the dumbest I have ever seen. Morons.
"Alternately, a national tax on "organic" foods and latte to buy weapons systems and body armour."
I'd support a huge tax increase on Starbuck's coffee.
You are quite right. The editorial staff of the NYT has the military knowledge, experience and judgment equal to the leader of a gay girl scout troop. Moreover, they are using this to advance their agenda to bring about the defeat of the United States in the War on Terror. This will certainly be result if U.S. Policy follows the NYT lead.
However, the facts behind the propaganda are troubling. During the Vietnam War, we skipped an entire generation of modernization (except for the Air Force, they never skip anything) at great risk to the country in order to fight the war at the level we thought necessary. Was the risk worth it? It think so, but others disagree.
In this case, we have chosen the other course: continue Modernization as planned and take risk with our committment to the current fight. This, in my view, is far riskier. If we are perceived by the world to be beaten in Iraq, we will reap a bloody harvest for years to come - and our transformational systems may never be brought to bear in the fight.
The Army has said for years that it needs 2 more divisions (or the equivilent combat brigades, combat battalions - you take your pick). We are quickly running out of time to decide, recruit, equip, train, and deploy these divisions. Wellington said that Waterloo was a very near run thing. What would he have said if he has come up just a bit short? Answer, nothing - Napolean would have hung him before he had a chance to speak.
And may I add to my former comments....They are suicidal morons, content to believe that because a bomb has not exploded on their block, none ever will.
The Islamofacists are not going to take down Lincoln, Nebraska, they will attack New York and Washington (note to the NYT reporters...that is Washington, DC).
Great tagline, MNJohnnie. I agree. We are in a war. The entire country should be making sacrifices for the war effort as this nation did during WWII. I'd start in Hollywood and have them all working in factories making Humvees and Tanks, and bullets, etc.
Folks, we're one month from important elections. The left and the media will be throwing everything, including the kitchen sink, at us. It will be relentless and sickening, and the truth or the public good will be far down the list of their priorities.
Brought to you by the same geniuses who said the aircraft carrier was obsolete back in 84'.
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