[Pancho13]

Why is it so wrong for these top officers, responsible for the lives of so many to tell the truth as they see it to Congress? Has the administration finally gone around the bend in its attempt to stifle any honest examination of their conduct? What do y'all think?

[Saundra Duffy]

Rumsfeld - I love you!!!!!!!!!!

[Eagle74]

Why is it so wrong for these top officers, responsible for the lives of so many to tell the truth as they see it to Congress? Has the administration finally gone around the bend in its attempt to stifle any honest examination of their conduct? What do y'all think?

"NO GENERAL EVER HAS ENOUGH TROOPS"

Come on, the military is just a job like any other, except for the few(5,000) who have actually faced combat, none of them needs any rest. Only the stress of combat can cause the weight loss and emotional drain which requires R&R. While the Admiral may have had a point about JDAM stock piles, the JDAM can be replaced by other weapons, and I doubt the military will touch their reserves except in an emergency. Laser guided and TV guided bombs and missiles are more labor intensive than the drop and forget JDAM, but are just as accurate. The thing we should all remember is that "NO GENERAL EVER HAS ENOUGH TROOPS" which is what the complaining is all about.

[yoe]

I think the press has tried to run this war no matter who it hurt. And I think like wardaddy poster #2, you don't get Rummy's ire up. He deserves a medal for putting up with the stupid questions asked by the press. As for the General and the Adm.'s remark, has anyone seen the original transcript?

[Fury]

But concern is widespread at the Pentagon that U.S. forces may be overextended by worldwide commitments.

The most telling sentence of the article. One does have to consider that Secretary Rumsfeld has proposed further reductions in certain areas of the military that would add to the the military's "per person" workload. Op Tempo/Pers Tempo are too high right now. Do you think they will get any better in the future? I don't. I know of both Officers and Enlisted folks who have had enough of the TDYs and are not re-enlisting in the Guard/Reserve, even when offered much. It will get worse before it gets better.

[Satadru]

This time of the year (budget season), I will take anything with a grain of salt. Having said that, we are deployed in too many places. If Bush has any courage, he would pull out our troops from Bosnia and Japan, and deploy them elsewhere. But, then again, that takes balls.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

If an officer has a problem, he should address it to the chain of command. He shouldn't go griping to the media about it (unless the chain has blown it off and he feels strongly enough to put his job in jeopardy).

[Mahone]

the bend in its attempt to stifle any honest examination of their conduct? What do y'all think?

I think you assume MUCH!

[joyce11111]

Pancho...there is a chain of command in the Military. That's why!

[powderhorn]

Why is it so wrong for these top officers, responsible for the lives of so many to tell the truth as they see it to Congress?

Because you don't want to tempt the bad guys to push harder by saying that you are low on ammo. It'd be a lot wiser if they could say something like, "We almost ran low on ammo, but we talked in private with some key people in Congress who made sure that we got what we needed."

It's wrong when the truth can get more people killed.