Senior Army Officials: US Readiness Dangerously Low

Washington Post:

Senior Army and Marine Corps leaders said yesterday that the increase of more than 30,000 troops in Iraq and Afghanistan has put unsustainable levels of stress on U.S. ground forces and has put their readiness to fight other conflicts at the lowest level in years.

In a stark assessment a week before Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, is to testify on the war's progress, Gen. Richard A. Cody, the Army's vice chief of staff, said that the heavy deployments are inflicting "incredible stress" on soldiers and families and that they pose "a significant risk" to the nation's all-volunteer military.

Read the whole story: Washington Post

Comments

[fact finder]

12:23 AM on 04/03/2008

Here comes the draft. Ready or not.

[CarolinaDem]

09:51 AM on 04/02/2008

Republicans brought this upon us because they saw the best interests of the world's economy as a kind of ideal ruling moral as well as political thought. They typically unite the best interest of the economic actor with human freedom to pursue it in a grand Adam Smithy view which puts such liberty at the core of a utopia of human accomplishment, satisfaction and dignity. Then, having moralized a largely theoretical concept of how things are best arranged for business into an ideological orthodoxy, they find it necessary to hire and engage only fellow believers. The result is a personnel in government and associated companies who collectively cannot grasp the fact that other people have other valid interests without seeing such others as morally inferior obstructionists opposing the good. So they embark upon policies like the attempt to guarantee the unmanipulated flow of oil into the world economy by invading Iraq, thinking that others will be grateful for their moral heroism. Linking that at last to the patriotism of military service and national honor, it is a short step into dismissing all critics as unworthy of debate because what is at issue is the very value of the American way. That then amounts to inability to discern the real opposition, its purpose, its character and its strength in the simple fact that nobody asked them to convert the world to their religious vision of it. The result LOOKS like incompetence, arrogance and corruption. It's really just prep school snottiness.

[LeftVetPatriot]

09:46 AM on 04/02/2008

Who knew?!

[robodweeb]

09:46 AM on 04/02/2008

"Let me tell you what else I'm worried about: I'm worried about an opponent (Gore) who uses nation building and the military in the same sentence." - Nov. 6, 2000 George W. Bush

[ErnestineBass]

04:42 PM on 04/02/2008

BRAVO! robodweek!!!

You should C&P this quote on EVERY thread!

HuffPo's troll population should be forced to read "Dear Leader's" quote daily.

[Ramirez]

05:58 PM on 04/02/2008

YES! That quote will kill any chance of Bush being reelected!

[frappe]

09:40 AM on 04/02/2008

Multiple choice question:

And who do we have to thank for the deplorable state of our military?:

A. George W. Bush

B. The Bush Administration

C. Dick Cheney

D. Donald Rumsfeld

E. The Neocons and the enabling, rubber-stamping Republican Party

F. All of the above

Answer: "F" -- All of the above.

("F" also constitutes their grade and is abbreviated code for "Flunkies" "Fools" and "Fascists")

[Sneaky]

11:04 AM on 04/02/2008

Just to be fair, you forgot a lot of Democratic names up there, too. This was a bipartisan endeavor.

[frappe]

11:31 AM on 04/02/2008

But the fact remains that the overwhelming preponderance of the push -- and the actual majority -- came from the Republicans.

[Binea]

09:35 AM on 04/02/2008

PAUL: Well, we've only had two little primaries so far. So it's pretty premature to decide which one is going to be the candidate. But, you know, when you think about it, if you measured everything I've ever said, every vote I've ever taken against the Constitution, you know, I'm a strict constitutionalist.
Are you suggesting the Republicans should write me off because I'm a strict constitutionalist? I'm the most conservative member here. I have voted, you know, against more spending and waste in government than anybody else.
(APPLAUSE)
So you're suggesting that I'm not electable and the Republicans don't want me because I'm a strict fiscal conservative, because I believe in civil liberties? Why should we not be defending civil liberties and why should we not be talking about foreign policy that used to be the part of the Republican Party?
PAUL: Mr. Republican Robert Taft didn't even want us to be in NATO and you're saying now that we have to continue to borrow money from China to finance this empire that we can't afford?
Let me see if I get this right. We need to borrow $10 billion from China, and then we give it to Musharraf, who is a military dictator, who overthrew an elected government. And then we go to war, we lose all these lives promoting democracy in Iraq. I mean, what's going on here?
Ron Paul -harrassed in Republican debate 08
Obama /Ron Paul o8 ?

[Sneaky]

01:29 PM on 04/02/2008

Ron Paul and Barack Obama are on two opposite ends of the political spectrum. Paul is a type of constitutional conservative (classic example of a post-1900 Republican Party member) and Obama a bit more statist (classic example of a post-1900 Democratic Party member).

[Bobby]

09:33 AM on 04/02/2008

This is what happens to a military force that is led by a couple of civilians (Bu$h & Cheney) that didn't have the guts to fight when it was their time (Vietnam). Bu$h & Cheney are all about the Military Industrial Complex, when it comes to the war profiteers like Blackwater, Halliburton and the Carlyle Group. But in terms of putting our troops in harm's way, they just don't give a shit. Nor do they take care of the troops when they come home. Just look at the Walter Reed situation. How many Generals have spoke out about the strategy and conduct of the war in Iraq? Several. I think I lost count at eight or nine. You also have guys like Petraeus that have been wrong about the strategy of the war before (2004) and are wrong now (the surge). I know a guy that went on his 4th tour of Iraq recently. He knows guys that are on their 5th! That is totally ridiculous. And SHAMEFUL.

[HopeandChange]

09:26 AM on 04/02/2008

This is illegal wire tapping democrats:

A federal judge says House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, can collect more than $1 million in his lawsuit against Democratic Rep. Jim McDermott of Washington state.

The decision was issued in a decade-long dispute over an illegally taped telephone call. In the 1996 call, Republican leaders discussed an ethics case against then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga. A Florida couple recorded the cell phone call on a radio scanner and McDermott leaked the tape to two newspapers.

McDermott should resign today!

[robodweeb]

09:30 AM on 04/02/2008

Where's the part about McDermott wire tapping anyone?

"A Florida couple..."

[IntelligentDesign]

09:25 AM on 04/02/2008

There is really no way to get an accurate read on this latest alarm bell out of the Pentagon, to some extent they are always going to shoot for more budget allocations to boost readiness, but what in the hell are they readying themselves for? Are we talking a specific set of missions or a specific set of possible scenarios or just run of the mill readiness?

The other little huge problem that we face is that no one would believe the Bush administration if they bothered to offer an explanation anyway? You can count me out.

[HopeandChange]

09:25 AM on 04/02/2008

Still no story about Jim McDermott being found guilty of illegally wire tapping? Why not? I thought illegal wire tapping was a big deal. Where's the outrage?

[BigFootJesus]

09:26 AM on 04/02/2008

you seem pretty outraged, keep it up

[LeftVetPatriot]

09:42 AM on 04/02/2008

My outrage is busy with thousands of slain, maimed and 'played' servicepeople
and the untold millions of dead, wounded and displaced Iraqis.

[dumbosrus]

09:24 AM on 04/02/2008

Do we REALLY need any Army official to keep stating the obvious over and over and over and over and over at naseua??

I think not.

What we need is a senior Army official to DO something about it. But then again, even if he did, the grossly incompetent US Congress wouldn't know what to do.

Now that it's painfully obvious that the this Dumbacrat led Congress can't get anything done, it's time to fire them and the Republicrats!!!!

This current session of Congress is a complete bust!!

[HumeSkeptic]

09:30 AM on 04/02/2008

Is it the fault of the Congress that our C-inC can't defeat Taliban on horsebacks and some rag tag militia in Iraq after all these years of the mightiest military force ever at his disposal?

And the Congress has given this monkey of a C-inC all the money that he asked for, and then some, to fight these so-called wars.

[WIpatriot]

09:22 AM on 04/02/2008

Fercrissakes, now the Generals are supporting terrrrists by telling them we're not able to repel their attacks, unless....

It's a trap....very clever, General.

[HumeSkeptic]

09:20 AM on 04/02/2008

The mightiest military ever has been bogged down in Afgahnistan for over six years and in Iraq for over five years.

Were we fighting the old Soviet Union, this could be understandable, but not against Taliban on horse backs and not against some mixture of Sunnis and Shia militia with nothing more than IEDs and homemade roadside bombs in their arsenal.

The problem is not with our military, of course. The problem is with our leadership and the monkey we call our C-in-C. And now another "Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" singing monkey wants to become our C-in-C.

Enough of this humiliation of our military around the world. Bring the troops home, put a Democrat in the White House, and bring honor back to our country and our military.

[LeftVetPatriot]

09:35 AM on 04/02/2008

Rarrin'!!

[cruisepuppy7452a]

09:15 AM on 04/02/2008

There is a saying, money is the root of all evils, and greed is the seed that feeds that evil. This war has taken a human toll that goes beyond financial. Our troops have died on a daily basis, many of them covered up, cause of death altered to fit the agenda of the Bush administration. My question is why is nothing said in congress or the senate to force an end to this blood bath? How can so many turn such a blind eye to the horror this president and rogue vice president have caused? The answer lies in that first sentence. They are more concerned with financial greed, power, personal gains, than the men who wear the uniform. Death is money to them. Our presidential candidates need to ask the same tough questions to end this madness. If not, they are just as egregious as those who are in office now. Folks, you cannot possibly think this war has a good outcome, is a win for anyone, will not lead to a depression. It won't, it isn't, and it is leading to the mother of all depressions. Nothing to be proud of.

[BronxBorn]

09:32 AM on 04/02/2008

I agree with what you say, but for one exception. You say "Our troops have died on a daily basis".
A better, more accurate read would be "Our SOLDEIRS have died on a daily basis".

See, when we use the word "Troops" , it objectifies the humanity and scale of the true horror.
"Troops" is not a good word. It removes the reader at least one step.

[Superbus]

09:15 AM on 04/02/2008

Our Presidents (yes plural) and our Congress has failed to build a military large enough to deal with the dual threats of islamic extremism and the militarism of the Communist Chinese.

[HumeSkeptic]

09:25 AM on 04/02/2008

We spend more on our military than the rest of the world combined. Not enough?

The problem is with our leadership, and the monkey we have for a C-in-C. And now another "Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" singing monkey wants to become our C-in-C.

Not a bigger military, a sane C-in-C is what we need.

[robodweeb]

09:25 AM on 04/02/2008

There was a guy arrestd at the Orlando airport with pipe bomb material.

No war was needed to catch him.