Pentagon's plan: More U.S. troops in Iraq

[wtmusic]

The LA Times puts its new, redesigned neocon face forward:

"Boosting presence and aid, and an anti-Sadr offensive, carry risks but offer the best path to victory, military officials say."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-military13dec13,0,4577494.story?coll=la-home-headlines

"I think it is worth trying," a defense official said.

Insane.

[Homer Wells]

1. And just where in the hell

are they going to find these new troops? A draft now would be disastrous for the Repugs, and they are not just going to miracle them there.
Sounds like a line of BS to me.

:wtf:

[RevolutionStartsNow]

4. I have a nephew who just joined up :(

Not so smart to join in the middle of a war, but he was headed for gang life or at least some kind of no-good path (in Las Vegas), so his parents thought it was okay.

He was out of Boot Camp for 4 weeks when he got married to a girl he'd know for 2 weeks. Just so they would get stationed together.

I also know of another kid who's joining up because his mom is pushing him in -- she wants to get back together with her fundy ex-husband (not the kid's father) and his condition is that the kid be gone. Nice, eh?

[wtmusic]

6. I suppose this plan is "worth trying" if you're not going to be there

Your nephew might disagree.

[Homer Wells]

8. I can understand that...

I , myself, joined the Army in '68, right smack-dab in the middle of the original Viet-Nam, but my plan, as was related to me by others, (the recruiters, mostly), was to enlist and thus avoid the trip over to the Green Latrine.

I was shocked, SHOCKED, I tell ya, to find myself landing in that country on April 15, 1969.

Sort of reminds me of these new Reserve ads I see on the tube now, with the kid saying to his Dad." Don't worry, Pop. They will only call me if they need me."

I'd love to sell that kid some of that ocean front property on the beach in Boise.

:eyes:

[RevolutionStartsNow]

10. I don't know him that well, but he told me when he joined...

that he wanted to "go where the action is." He's played a lot of video games, you know. :eyes:

Now that he's in, I bet he's scared shitless about being sent over there.

He joined the Army, too. He wasn't sold on a particular one, but the recruiters are apparently pretty aggressive about pushing kids into the Army rather than the Navy or Air Force or somewhere else where he might be a bit safer.

His father, who is a bit of a Limbaugh nut, told my husband the typical Repub talking point that "they hear" it's "not that bad" over there and that "the Iraqi kids love the US soldiers." Something about throwing flowers at them. Good God. How can a parent remain so ignorant when it comes to their own child?

[Homer Wells]

11. That young man will soon learn

that the John Wayne scenario that has been pushed on these poor kids is just so much crap.

The entire senior administration (Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld) never had a day of active duty in any military. They probably learned all their military strategy and such from reading Sgt. Rock comic books and playing with their G I Joe dolls.

I feel very bad for the soldiers of today, being used as they are by the clowns in power.

God protect him!

[Hubert Flottz]

2. They should have thought of that when they invaded with a third of

what they needed. Or better yet, they shouldn't have invaded based on bad intell. to start with.

[LSK]

3. how can they do an anti-Sadr offensive???

Thats almost akin to an anti-Shia offensive???

The story has to be wrong.

[jsamuel]

5. so, the plan is to increase troops and fight the civil war for them?

[Jacobin]

7. A Hail Mary pass with ten seconds to go when you are behind

80 to nothing, using the blood of Americans and enormous amounts of our treasure to "try it out". Hmm. Sounds like we need a new coach.

[gulliver]

9. They are calling it a "double down." That's wrong.

A "double down" is when you see a favorable turn of the cards in blackjack and decide to double your bet. What the Bushies and their Pentagon are talking about is a "double or nothing."