We are at the end of the rope for this dumb war -

[Joe for Clark]

I cut this from the News tribune as of this evening -

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Army is stretched so thin by the war in Iraq that it is again extending the combat tours of thousands of soldiers beyond the promised 12 months - the second such move since August.
Soldiers of the 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division had been expecting to return to their home base in Germany in mid-January. Instead, they will stay an extra 46 days in Iraq, until late February, the Pentagon announced Monday. The soldiers are operating in western Anbar province, one of the most violent parts of Iraq.

The Pentagon also announced that the 4th Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division will deploy to Iraq 30 days earlier than scheduled, starting in late October. The announcement did not say why the speedup was deemed necessary, but three officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said it is part of a plan to beef up forces in Baghdad, where U.S. and Iraqi troops are struggling to contain insurgent and sectarian violence.

The Pentagon said troop rotations could be changed even further "based upon changes in the security situation." Sectarian killings in Baghdad and continuing insurgent violence elsewhere in Iraq have foiled Pentagon plans to begin a troop reduction this fall.

"The Army is coming to the end of its rope in Iraq," said Loren Thompson, a defense analyst at the Lexington Institute, a private research group. "It simply does not have enough active-duty military personnel to sustain the current level of effort."


The last paragraph is probably the operative paragraph -

Joe

[patrice]

1. Yep! The Army is getting ready to ask for $25 billion additional

dollars in their current budget, according to NPR.

I'll go look for that link.

[Joe for Clark]

2. Please do this - I want that to be right- you know, just money -

I don't think its just money right now.

I'll look for your link.

joe

[patrice]

4. Here's one

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/09/25/armys_top_officer_sees_budget_shortfall/

I'll go look for another in a bit.

[patrice]

7. NPR mentioned this little delay in the budgetting process; it's on Jane's

too http://www.janes.com/defence/news/jdw/jdw060925_2_n.shtml though you'll have to subscribe to read the whole thing.

[Joe for Clark]

11. Keep going - good stuff.

Patrice I will make you a promise -

Everything I said was true - and if something happens to my kid in this new deployment I will unload. You keep going - you have some very good posts here.

My dad was a pretty famous pilot, all my uncles are exactly as I said - Dad DID run an oil company and blah, blah, blah.

My heart was always with my brothers and a lot of dumb kids that fought for us in Viet Nam to now. Gook kids, GI kids.

You keep going Patrice - you are doing good.

I always believed - and I taught my kids - it is an honor to serve our country.

Well, they watched Troy get shoved off to Iraq - they watched this - and they had good questions about it - and I have no answers.

How dare this son of a bitch do that to good kids - he thinks they are so stupid??

Joe

You keep coming - cause I am making good notes.

[patrice]

13. I have a nephew, Aaron, in the Delta Force.

He used to be a different kind of kid, went to school in rural Kansas, where they didn't have what he needed to compete in Bush's "ownership" society. He went straight out of highschool into the Army and eventually into the Delta Force.

I also taught highschool seniors for just short of 10 years. I saw the ones that were harvested by the recruiters every Spring: the poor, the sad, the lost, the lonely, the "failures" - and we call ourselves a "free" country.

Education is one of the Keys.

[Joe for Clark]

15. I'm sorry I reply so late - I am in and out constantly cause

of work.

I really pray all the kids come home ok - And I'll pray for your Aaron. I pray a lot lately.

We bring up our kids - and I know it rubbed off, apparently, with mine - that joining the military is an honorable thing - it really is. But those recruitters use it against them - They are lieing sacks of Sh*t, they are. Much worse than used car salesmen. And they are salesmen.
And they prey on the weak.

Thanks Patrice - your post puts in perspective what this is really about I think.

Joe

[patrice]

10. Here's the NPR piece.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6140848

[Joe for Clark]

12. Nice work.

I hope to god this works out right- cause I know if it doesn't my kid dies someplace northwest of Baghdad. He understands this - and My brothers and my parents and their grandparents understand this too.

Facinating medium this internet has become. Really interesting.

My kid dies now - I PROMISE - I will bring all Keep going Patrhell to bear from every corner right now. Best I can do.

Its funny in a way - I really do like those kids - in another generation they were going off to fight another war, I guess. I always liked them. I always will.

I know something else - I spent 5 plus years studying guard records - I have truly come to understand - I don't think old W is a liar, I know he is - and I know, everybody that flew then knows he is too.

Well, I know a lot of guys that came thru for us back then - fighter pilots - And I know ol W doesn't know quite so many - you know??

So, they derailed Mr Rather a few years ago - well, you were NOT wrong sir, A lot of us know you weren't.

Keep going Patrice - you are really getting this right.

Joe

[patrice]

14. God bless you and your Family.

It takes great Grace to bare the dangers to loved ones without knuckling under and giving in to the lies, a.k.a. drinking the kool-aide.

[bullimiami]

3. 400 billion a year is not enough? i guess the contractors are stealing it.

[Joe for Clark]

6. Oh, sometimes the army will "exagerate" or do things to cause

their budget to go up. No doubt they do.

But man, Those "contractors" killed a few of those kids out of Ft Lewis this weekend in pure fear.

Oh man - your point is dead on - I think that is where we find ourselves, too.

I think maybe this is one of those FDR moments - is it true that what we have to fear is fear itself - cause I think Rove won't agree with that.

Personally - I REALLY like FDR. Clinton remined me of him a lot this weekend.

Joe

[lonestarnot]

8. 21 billion gonzo, and investigation into pentagon prevented,

precluded, stopped, axed by one of the 750 signing statements. hmmmmf. Probably a portion buried at the "ranch" in Crawford. I hope Cindy digs it up and spends it on the peace effort!

[Homer Wells]

5. Anybody feel a DRAFT???????

n/t

[lonestarnot]

9. Could be getting cool in here, yes.