Lawmaker: Soldiers Near Breaking Point

[GreenPartyVoter]

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Pentagon is taxing its reserve soldiers "nearly to the breaking point" with repeated and extended deployments in its two ongoing wars, a senior lawmaker told defense officials Wednesday.

"I'm worried ... worried for them, for asking very few to exert an enormous sustained effort for the good of all of us," said Missouri Rep. Ike Skelton, ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee.

The committee was hearing testimony on troop rotations in Iraq and Afghanistan, looking with particular interest at reservists and at a move made last week by the Defense Department to call back soldiers who have already served.

For the first time in more than a decade, the Army is forcing thousands of former soldiers back into uniform, a reflection of the strain on the service of long campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. More than 5,600 former soldiers - mostly those who recently finished serving and have skills in military policing, engineering, logistics, medicine or transportation - will be assigned to National Guard and Reserve units that are scheduled to deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan.

http://apnews1.iwon.com/article/20040707/D83M20M81.html

[dkf]

1. Which is why I am very very worried about a draft even if Bush is out.

http://www.madison.com/captimes/opinion/column/guest/77737.php

With turmoil in Saudi Arabia, a quagmire in Iraq, possible political if not military defeat in Afghanistan, intensification of the Palestinian-Israeli dispute, terrorism in Pakistan, India, and perhaps Bahrain, one might ask President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, "So, fellas, how's it going? How will America handle a new crisis in the Middle East?"

Hint: The Army is refusing to let soldiers leave service when their tour is up and is calling up thousands of reservists. Will there be a draft if Bush is re-elected? You bet.

Given the turmoil in the Middle East, there may be one with Bush or John Kerry. The grammatically challenged chair of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., told the New York Times, "You have drafts when you can't get the requisite numbers. There is not now indications that you can't get the requisite number but we watch those numbers every month."
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Would any of us offer our sons or daughters or our grandchildren for this ill-considered and irresponsible adventure? If your answer is no, then join in demanding an end to our occupation of Iraq.

It is time to admit we were wrong. We cannot solve the problem on our own.

[Tsiyu]

2. Bush's Plan All Along

Keep 'em exhausted. Keep 'em fighting. Relentlessly.

In the Right Wing Plan they say:

We have fewer of them coming home before the election to tell their truths.

We get a draft. We have more warmongering to do, see?

We make America less safe (fewer folks to guard "home")

WE eliminate - by war death and dismemberment - many of the common folk who might one day rise up against us

We let them bear the burden of our wealth building.

So far it's worked pretty damned well, i'd say. I'll have to congratulate the Right wing for being very sneaky and very sick.
They win the prize....

[Straight Shooter]

3. Many Reserve soldiers aren't young men, either, with high energy levels

I look at the photos of these guys going over there and think, "My God, these are men in their forties and fifties."

Admittedly, they have the life skills, they have the training, but war is physically taxing, especially in the heat and with all the protective gear they must wear.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

4. The price of a toppling empire.

Now that BushCorp's brilliant planners have effectively made the whole world the enemy, they have to defend America's "Vital Interest$$" by force.

Tributary (but, rebellious) colonies are difficult to control. The Romans, the Brits, the Germans, all had to discover the hard way. Now it's our turn.

[JETS]

5. Don't worry! Remember Bush says help is on the way. n/t