Military sets sights higher and lower, as Iraq continues to falter

[the old gringo]

US and Iraqi troops have launched another offensive in Fallujah, as insurgent guerillas return to use the city as a base of operations. Who would have thought they'd be so sneaky?

Meanwhile, acutely aware of its looming cannon-fodder shortage, the Defense Department has submitted to Congress a package of what they are calling "urgent wartime support initiatives," which, among other things, would raise the maximum age for military recruits to 42.

Pass the Metamucil and a box of Depends; Daddy's going to war!

On the other end of the spectrum, the Naval Sea Cadet Corps (NSCC) would like to talk to your Middle School student about their future in the Navy.

Don't like to swim? Try the Middle School Cadet Corps (MSCC). Remember, it's never to early to indoctrinate your child in the culture of perpetual warfare.

Maybe when they actually hit puberty, the can join the "Active Response Corps," established in an amendment to the foreign affairs authorization act passed yesterday by Congress. The purpose of these rapid-response storm troopers will be to "provide assistance in support of stabilization and reconstruction activities in foreign countries that are in, or are in transition from, or are likely to enter into, conflict or civil strife." What does that mean exactly? Well, the ARC will provide the core "stabilization" force to resist the backlash against obviously foreign-engineered coups d'etat, not that we would ever do such a thing. Just another weapon in our imperialist arsenal.