It’s sad and infuriating to read that U.S. soldiers complain they still don’t have the troop strength to get the job done in Iraq.
U.S. officials concede that “they’ve been forced to shuffle American units from one part of the country to another for at least two years because there haven’t been enough soldiers and Marines to deal simultaneously with Sunni Muslim insurgents and Shiite militias; train Iraqi forces; and secure roads, power lines, border crossings and ammunition dumps,” according to an article by Tom Lasseter of McClatchy Newspapers,
Further, many officers said they don’t ask for more troops for fear of losing their jobs. The message has gone out that requesting more troops is a career-ender.
President Bush has repeatedly said he will send more troops if commanders on the ground request them — but privately, some commanders say the Bush team has made it clear they don’t want to hear about the need for more troops.
What an inexcusable tragedy if, for political reasons, America is not giving its young men and women the resources to prevail.
According to Kenneth Pollack, a respected former National Security Council official, “The numbers should probably be roughly double what they are. We are seeing the right plan but completely inadequate resources to make it work.”
Posted by Randy Scholfield
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18 Comments
Gee and how long has it been said there are not enough troops? I wonder if the Bush daughters were there, how many troops would there be around them?
Child of a couple that are not legally married! Plural…Bush &Co.
Bring back the draft, no deferments. That will give us enough troops and a very strong motivation to end the conflict. When everybody has the same chance of making a sacrifice, then attitudes will change. It’s easy to be a flag waving, Bush loving, wingnut when no one you love or care about is spilling their blood for an unwinable war.
EVERYTHING IS GOING FINE! THE DEAD-ENDERS ARE ON THEIR LAST LEGS! THE INSURGENCY IS IN ITS LAST THROES!!!!!!!!
…and yet ANOTHER thing the early critics of the war were right about….
Oh yeah, one more thing…
The silence from the right side of the blog will be deafening on this thread!
HEY! I WASN’T SILENT!
Oh, sorry paul, I didnt hear you over the sound of flowers being thrown at our troops as they are being greeted as liberators….
If the offspring of our various government leaders were subject a draft, we would be far more selective in what we as a country get involved. If it’s the other guy’s kids , that’s OK, mine are special.It’s always amazed me that people that have not had a service experience, or who have not been shot at, etc., are so eager to get into situations that have larger, more dangerous implications. People that have had those experiences know that going to war is not automatically the right choice in all situations, but the amateurs never seem to get it!
“It’s always amazed me that people that have not had a service experience, or who have not been shot at, etc., are so eager to get into situations that have larger, more dangerous implications.”
gster, I am shocked, SHOCKED I say, that you would invoke the image of the yellow elephant.
I wonder if the republicans would want the same exceptions for the draft that they want on issues of choice?
Exemtions for rape, incest and MY DAUGHTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
heheheheh
I was shocked twice!! And somehow he was elected, if you can call it that!!
9:30 am and we are STILL waiting on the bushbots on this thread.
“The message has gone out that requesting more troops is a career-ender.President Bush has repeatedly said he will send more troops if commanders on the ground request them — but privately, some commanders say the Bush team has made it clear they don’t want to hear about the need for more troops.”
Since when has reality influenced the thinking of Bush, the Republican leadership, and the fascist swine that make up their ‘base?’ Everything takes a back seat to politics and appearances. And the wingers by the representation of what is happening because THAT IS WHAT THEY WANT TO HEAR. Nothing else matters.
Mary got it right, short and to the point.
The number of troops that we ideally should have in Iraq is ZERO! No more war for big oil or zionism, period. Put our troops on the border to stop the flow of drugs and wetbacks into our country.
V.L.R.B!!
War can be, and is mass murder, where the motive is wrong.It can be sacrifice and right action, where the motive is right. The slaying of a man in the act of killing the defenseless is not regarded as murder. The principle remains the same, whether it is killing an individual who is murdering, or fighting a nation which is warring on the defenseless.
Starting to look more like the Russians trying to hold Kabul!
With the US troops holed up in Baghdad what will happen in the rest of the country? Especially, what happens if the atrocities in Lebanon galvanize the resistence to unite against the sponsor of the destruction of Lebanon?
After watching the Frontline: Darkside episode, FH. 911 (which nobody seems to refute) and all the media behavoir leading up to the war. I am truly convinced that Bush/Cheney and friends manipulated this WAR for financial gain.
To say otherwise is to have too much blind faith in your daddys GOP. Or basically not being able to handle the truth because it hurts.