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Saturday, March 10, 2007

Honey, I broke the military
Posted by Jill | 7:06 PM
Is there anything in George W. Bush's life that he hasn't screwed up?

The military is starving for "fresh troops" for the so-called "surge" (read: long-term escalation and occupation):

Military leaders are struggling to choose Army units to stay in Iraq and Afghanistan longer or go there earlier than planned, but five years of war have made fresh troops harder to find.

Faced with a military buildup in Iraq that could drag into next year, Pentagon officials are trying to identify enough units to keep up to 20 brigade combat teams in Iraq. A brigade usually has about 3,500 troops.

The likely result will be extending the deployments of brigades scheduled to come home at the end of the summer, and sending others earlier than scheduled.


And here at home, Bush's use of the National Guard as an adjunct to active-duty military rather than institute an unpopular draft has broken that branch's ability to respond to domestic disasters:

Nearly 90 percent of Army National Guard units in the United States are rated "not ready" -- largely as a result of shortfalls in billions of dollars' worth of equipment -- jeopardizing their capability to respond to crises at home and abroad, according to a congressional commission that released a preliminary report yesterday on the state of U.S. military reserve forces.

The report found that heavy deployments of the National Guard and reserves since 2001 for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and for other anti-terrorism missions have deepened shortages, forced the cobbling together of units and hurt recruiting.

"We can't sustain the [National Guard and reserves] on the course we're on," said Arnold L. Punaro, chairman of the 13-member Commission on the National Guard and Reserves, established by Congress in 2005. The independent commission, made up mainly of former senior military and civilian officials appointed by both parties, is tasked to study the mission, readiness and compensation of the reserve forces.

"The Department of Defense is not adequately equipping the National Guard for its domestic missions," the commission's report found. It faulted the Pentagon for a lack of budgeting for "civil support" in domestic emergencies, criticizing the "flawed assumption" that as long as the military is prepared to fight a major war, it is ready to respond to a disaster or emergency at home.


This is the Bush record: An active military destroyed. A National Guard unready for responding to a domestic emergency. Such an emergency even more likely now due to his botching of his discretionary war in Iraq. A terrorist attack on his watch. An inability or unwillingness to capture the alleged mastermind of the plot for that attack. A war based on lies. Over 3100 soldiers dead and tens of thousands wounded, maimed and disfigured for life in that war based on lies. An expanded terrorist threat caused by his abandonment of the Afghanistan effort for his Ahab-like obsession with Saddam Hussein. A country in debt for generations to come while Dick Cheney and Bush cronies continue to stuff their pockets with taxpayer cash.

And there are people who still support this bunch? There are people who still trust the Republicans with anything?

This president broke the military. The next time you see someone with one of those fucking yellow ribbon magnets on his car, ask if he realizes that.

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