Senior Army Officials: US Readiness Dangerously Low

Here comes the draft. Ready or not.

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.

Who knew?!

"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

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")

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 ?

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.

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!

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.

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?

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!!

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.

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.

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.

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.

You liberals are a bunch of worry warts.
As a proud ditto head, I see Iraq as the next U.S. State, and then we can draft all the Iraqis we need to bolster our Armed Forces.
O.K. you say, and maybe pigs can fly. To that I say, witness this!

http://www.mahablog.com/

I thought 9/11 was an inside job? A false flag operation?

Why should we be concerned?

It always make me a little nervous when senior military officials feel that it is necessary to publicize force shortcomings with stark language. It tells me that they know they are being poorly led at the very top, and that they truly believe that they have no alternative other than to turn to the Congress and the American people for redress.

lollll...I wonder how many of them now agree with me that those "super-patriots" Bush and Cheney hold their tax cuts to be of much greater value than the safety and security of the United States of America.

They all should, because the fact is that Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld & PNAC, LLP lied about the projected cost of the Iraq war and only sent a nickel force to do a dollar's work - solely to protect their tax cuts from those who would quite rationally say "But how can we have these tax cuts and support this war?".

I think this would be a 'Duh' moment for the military. It's pretty damn obvious that if you put 90% of your military assets in Afghanistan and Iraq, you're not going to be able to handle much else. I say pull all of the troops out of these countries and close all of our overseas bases, then lets pay off our trade deficit with the savings. Screw the world, we don't need to be their policemen.