Equipment shortfalls hurt Army readiness (2/3 of brigades not ready)

[Barrett808]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Up to two-thirds of the Army's combat brigades are not ready for wartime missions, largely because they are hampered by equipment shortfalls, Democratic lawmakers said Wednesday, citing unclassified documents.

In a letter to President Bush, Rep. Ike Skelton of Missouri, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said that "nearly every non-deployed combat brigade in the active Army is reporting that they are not ready" for combat. The figures, he said, represent an unacceptable risk to the nation.

At a news conference, other leading Democrats said that those strategic reserve forces are critically short of personnel and equipment.

"They're the units that could be called upon or would be called upon to go to war in North Korea, Iran, or any other country or region," said Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., a decorated Marine who has called for a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq.

(more)

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-07-27-army-readiness_x.htm

[TN al]

1. Wasn't military unit unreadiness a big point the

Bush campaign made in 2000.

[kineneb]

2. and the dimbulbs want more wars!

someone please lock up Cheney and Rummy, Dimson is just their puppet...he gets the cell next to theirs...