Daily Archives: Sept. 16, 2006

Open thread

Sept. 16, 200612:02 a.m.

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Open thread | Comments (110)

More troops for Iraq? We seem to be out

Sept. 16, 200612:01 a.m.

An earlier blog item argued that the U.S. needs to send in a lot more troops to secure Baghdad. But there could be a problem with that: We don’t have a lot more troops to send.
Writing for Slate, military analysts Daniel Benjamin and Michele A. Flournoy point out that two-thirds of the Army’s operating force, both active and reserve, is now reporting in as “unready,” while the relentless tempo of operations in Iraq has left much of Marines’ equipment in need of repair or replacement.
“In terms of ground-force readiness, the United States is in worse shape than at any time since the aftermath of Vietnam,” they wrote.
Not the sort of situation you want when you’re comparing Iraq to World War II.
Posted by Dave Knadler

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Iraq | Comments (50)

Ann Richards’ wit will be missed

Sept. 16, 200612:00 a.m.

The political world — or at least the Democratic part of it — will miss the humor and wisdom of Ann Richards, the feisty, colorful former Democratic governor of Texas who died this week.
She was a trailblazer for women in politics, and was known for her razor-sharp wit. Among her more memorable zingers:
About the first President Bush: “He was born with a silver foot in his mouth.”
And this, also about Bush 41: “He was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple.”
Ouch.
Posted by Randy Scholfield

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Uncategorized | Comments (6)