Kerry says Bush has mismanaged U.S. military (Using a back-door draft) [View All]

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http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N03497472.htm

INDEPENDENCE, Mo., June 3 (Reuters) - Democratic challenger John Kerry on Thursday accused President George W. Bush of mismanaging the U.S. military, effectively instituting a "back-door draft" and complicating the mission in Iraq.

The decorated Vietnam War veteran said the United States had gone into Iraq with too few troops to prevent looting and crime and had neglected to secure almost a million tons of conventional weapons now being used against them.

"These mistakes have complicated our mission and complicated our objective -- a stable Iraq with a representative government secure in its borders," Kerry said. snip

'BACK-DOOR' DRAFT

He said the move underscored how overextended the U.S. military was as the Pentagon tries to maintain adequate troop levels in Iraq and Afghanistan. About 138,000 American troops are in Iraq and some 13,000 in Afghanistan.

"The administration's answer has been to put band-aids on the problem," Kerry told invited guests in Independence. "They have effectively used a stop-loss policy as a back-door draft."

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