Pentagon Studies Report US Military Near Breakdown Without More Troops

[AGENDA21]

WASHINGTON -- Anyone else might be embarrassed when not one but two detailed studies of the way he's doing business conclude that his plans and assumptions are totally wrong, but not Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld.

A recent Rand Corp. study commissioned by the Pentagon of the U.S. Army in this time of war concluded that without an increase in manpower the Army "simply cannot sustain the force levels needed to break the back of the insurgent movement" in Iraq.

Yet another study, conducted by the Defense Department's own Institute for Defense Analyses, concluded that the Army's Transformation program, intended to add combat brigades without boosting manpower, cuts the number of maneuver battalions in those brigades while adding more headquarters troops.

"The essence of land power is resident in the maneuver battalions that occupy terrain, control populations and fight battles, not in headquarters and enablers," the IDA study said. "Yet the Army plan reduces the number of maneuver battalions by 20 percent below the number available in 2003, while increasing headquarters by 11.5 percent."

http://www.military.com/opinion/0,15202,92653,00.html

[leveymg]

1. Maybe Rummy and his office staff can take and occupy Khuzestan

Just pull that cord and bend your knees, Donald.

[Disturbed]

2. It's going as planned.

Bush Regime is ready to hire Blackwater Mercs as the "new Army". This way they won't be as scrutenized.

[leveymg]

3. Okay, Cofer Black can do the jump with him.

[TexasLinda]

6. Yes, it is

BusinessWeek had an excellent article ("The Other U.S. Military") on this subject in May of 2004. PBS's "Frontline" also cover this issue with their show "Private Warriors" (press release, video). People don't seem to care as long as their kids aren't being drafted and the cost is being pushed to future generations.

[MUAD_DIB]

20. Fekking merc deathsquads!!??

And I'm sure that they will cost nothing? Right?



How many times a day does Bushy wipe his arse with the constitution?



This monkey needs to be removed, and soon.

[Oversea Visitor]

4. Send the twin

and all the children of senator and congressman.
See how much they all like this

[Cooley Hurd]

5. Hmmm... hearing an awful lot of anti-Rummy stuff all of a sudden...

Methinks Rummy's gonna join Andy Card in the Bush Admin's out-on-yer-ass club, really soon (like by mid-April).

[leveymg]

8. That's right on schedule

Cheney's going at about the same time. By the end of the summer, the WhiteHouse should be vacated and have a for-rent sign out front.
http://www.varley.net/Pages/images/VarleyYarns/W!/For%20Rent%20in%20Langtry,%20Texas%20-%202-04.jpg

[Joe Fields]

9. He would be the obvious choice.

That is, unless Rove is forced to resign first.

[marmar]

7. The irony of all this...

is that this Iraq War fraud was supposed to scare the rest of the world into fearing the great might of the U.S. military. What it's showing them is that even loosely organized bands of insurgents can give the world's mightiest military machine fits. Paper tigers.

[leveymg]

10. That's precisely the outcome Gen. Shalikashvili warned about.

Maybe it wasn't just a SNAFU? If one wanted to shift capital out of the US to overseas markets, wouldn't one also make sure the American military was too weak to come and take it back?

[marmar]

11. Good point...

:think: And clearly this administration is hell-bent on destroying this country, economically, militarily and socially. I wonder if the Bush family has purchased a home in Dubai yet?

[leveymg]

13. They have a servant's cottage waiting in Riyadh

[Ufomammut]

12. Isn't this, in part, why they want to use nukes...

When they move onto the next phase of the PNAC plan?

[leveymg]

14. Would nukes be less of a deterrent if used? Interesting question.

Ask this guy. He knows.

[Ufomammut]

16. "We'll meet again, don't know where, don't know when...."

[EVDebs]

15. Britain's navy switched from coal to oil around 1900. US must switch

militarily now from oil to something else soon too. History demands it.

[Boojatta]

17. Don't the proles realize that Big Brother needs their service?

Veterans May Face Health Care Cuts in 2008

There's no money to help proles with their little health problems after they have completed their military service. Everything else is unfortunately more important.

What's next? Are the proles going to expect an expensive diamond engagement ring after their first tour of duty?

:evilfrown:

[PATRICK]

18. Math

Those generals who knew in advance, as any rational person military or not could has supposed, that this form of unsustainable attrition while growing our enemies and destabilizing our objectives, have not served our country by not publicly objecting. Let that show on their career summations. "I did not rock the sinking boat, before I got off." "It wasn't my job." Sure they would have failed and maybe violated lesser oaths, but now they have no honor, no innocence.

In a degrading situation the number of experienced Iraq veterans, constantly shrinking, even is supplemented by profiteer Blackwell veteran war lovers, is not enough because: 10 there were never near enough in the first place 2)the abused recall system is driving out more permanently from active service.

The Bush solution was always: 1) dump the problem on someone else(there is no there except the warring factions) 2) frustration bombing to carpet over the mess 3) move on to the next objective with fewer boots, more bombs 4) find some local ME cronies to do internal work for PNAC purposes(Chalabi blowback notwithstanding). Use Rove's principle that a larger mess is better than one accountable mess.

Failing a solution, the Bush team has one trump card. The occupation is there for good as long as the Bush team is in power and there are zero prospects in their personal math for changing them or their policies. Power does not have to face up to truth until power is lost. The bottom line in the quicksand
is that their heads are still above sand level.

With that stance, nothing matters in heaven or earth except the Bush team simply maintaining its position. So that means the continued degradation of the US military and the situation until something hits the fan.

[Roland99]

19. And here's the answer: Blackwater as Privatized military

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/03/30/blackwater-army

[Eugene]

21. kick and recommend

You're doing a heckuva job, Rummy.

Of course, the apologists on the right are still blaming Bill Clinton
after 5 years of BushCo mismanagement and 4 1/2 years of war.