GEORGE W. bUSH; the MFer who has DESTROYED our military.

[LynnTheDem]

Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez

Our best hope is to "stave off defeat"...I am absolutely convinced that America has a crisis in leadership at this time."
http://www.examiner.com/a-748161~Former_general_says_best_hope_in_Iraq_is__to_stave_off_defeat_.html

Colin Powell

"The US Army is about broken.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1974803,00.html

Lt. Gen. Clyde Vaughn

bUsh has “piecemealed our forces to death.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/04/AR2006110401160_pf.html

Gen. Barry McCafrey

Testified to the US Senate that the U.S. military is "in peril"; "the Army will unravel."
http://defensenews.com/story.php?F=2660463&C=america

Col. Andy Bacevich

Only a third of the regular Army’s brigades qualify as combat-ready. In the reserve components, none meet that standard. When the last of the units reaches Baghdad as part of the president’s strategy of escalation, the US will be left without a ready-to-deploy land force reserve.”
http://www.mainandcentral.org/archives/military_affairs/index.html

But who could have known??! Well gee, let's see...

Brent Scowcroft, one of the Republican Party’s most respected foreign policy advisors, and national security adviser under President Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush:

Don't Attack Saddam It would undermine our antiterror efforts. "Our pre-eminent security priority--underscored repeatedly by the president--is the war on terrorism. An attack on Iraq at this time would seriously jeopardize, if not destroy, the global counterterrorist campaign we have undertaken."
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110002133

James Webb, former Sec. of Navy under Ronald Reagan, Decorated Marine Veteran:

"Do we really want to occupy Iraq for the next 30 years? …In Japan, American occupation forces quickly became 50,000 friends. In Iraq, they would quickly become 50,000 terrorist targets…. Nations such as China can only view the prospect of an American military consumed for the next generation by the turmoil of the Middle East as a glorious windfall."
http://www.sftt.org/article09302002a.html

Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni, former Head of Central Command for U.S.:

"It's pretty interesting that all the generals see it the same way, and all the others who have never fired a shot, and are hot to go to war, see it another… We are about to do something that will ignite a fuse in this region that we will rue the day we ever started."

Hawks in the Bush administration may be making deadly miscalculations on Iraq, says Gen. Anthony Zinni, Bush's Middle East envoy.

"I'm not sure which planet they live on"
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2002/10/17/zinni

Republican Dissent on Iraq
Full page ad in Wall Street Journal by major GOP contributors:

"Mr. President, …The candidate we supported in 2000 promised a more humble nation in our dealings with the world. We gave him our votes and our campaign contributions. That candidate was you. We feel betrayed. We want our money back. We want our country back…. A Billion Bitter enemies will rise out of this war."
- Wall Street Journal, January 13, 2003
http://talkleft.com/new_archives/001444.html

62 percent thought that the threat of terror would increase if the U.S. takes military action against Iraq.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/02/07/opinion/meyer/main539846.shtml

General Joseph Hoare, the former marine commandant and head of US Central Command:
"The idea that this is going to go the way these guys planned is ludicrous."
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/091704Y.shtml

Col. David Hackworth:

"Should the president decide to stay the war course, hopefully at least a few of our serving top-uniformed leaders - those who are now covertly leaking that war with Iraq will be an unparalleled disaster - will do what many Vietnam-era generals wish they would have done: stand tall and publicly tell the America people the truth about another bad war that could well lead to another died-in-vain black wall. Or even worse."
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=29786

Knoxville News Sentinel, January 24, 2003

Bush Hasn't Made Case for War in Iraq
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0124-04.htm

December 17, 2002

Poll: Bush hasn't made case for Iraq war
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002-12-17-iraq-poll_x.htm

January 13, 2003

Poll: Majority of Americans oppose unilateral action against Iraq

A robust majority of Americans - 83 percent - would support going to war if the United Nations backed the action and it was carried out by a multinational coalition. But without U.N. approval and allies, only about a third of the public would support a war with Iraq.
http://talkleft.com/new_archives/001415.html

US Public Want to Give UN Inspectors More Time

Seven in 10 Americans would give U.N. weapons inspectors months more to pursue their arms search in Iraq, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll that found growing doubts about an attack on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A23564-2003Jan21



CIA to Bush: 'No clear Evidence of WMD'
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/120103A.shtml

Why the CIA thinks Bush is wrong
The president says the US has to act now against Iraq. The trouble is, his own security services don't agree.
http://www.sundayherald.com/28384

CIA in blow to Bush attack plans

The letter also comes at a time when the CIA is competing with the more hawkish Pentagon, which is also supplying the White House with intelligence on the Iraqi threat.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,808970,00.html

Public opinion polls indicate that the most Britons strongly oppose an invasion of Iraq
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0908-04.htm

Eighty-one percent of Britons opposed U.S. actions in Iraq
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070123/NEWS/70123057/-1/archive

President GHW Bush, 1998;

"Going in and occupying Iraq, thus unilaterally exceeding the United Nations' mandate, would have destroyed the precedent of international response to aggression that we hoped to establish. Had we gone the invasion route, the United States could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land."
http://www.thememoryhole.org/mil/bushsr-iraq.htm

Dick Cheney in April 1991, then Defense Secretary:

"If you're going to go in and try to topple Saddam Hussein,you have to go to Baghdad. Once you've got Baghdad, it's not clear what you do with it. It's not clear what kind of government you would put in place of the one that's currently there now. Is it going to be a Shia regime, a Sunni regime or a Kurdish regime? Or one that tilts toward the Baathists, or one that tilts toward the Islamic fundamentalists?

How much credibility is that government going to have if it's set up by the United States military when it's there? How long does the United States military have to stay to protect the people that sign on for that government, and what happens to it once we leave?
http://slate.msn.com/?id=2072479

Guess someone shoulda told George W. bUsh.

[proud patriot]

1. May he remembered for that throughout history

:grr:

[madrchsod]

2. in the thousands of years of oral and written history

george will take his place as one of the worse commanders ever. it is very strange to actually think i have lived in this moment in history.

[Marr]

12. No kidding. Just 7 years ago, if someone asked me what would happen

if a president did half the things Bush has done (most particularly conning us into a war in a way that's obvious and demonstrable), I'd have said the guy would be tarred and feathered by an angry public. And yet... nothing.

I think GW Bush and his team are going to be remembered as the most blatantly treasonous and corrupt administration in our history, but they'll also be noted as an example of how to get away with the biggest crimes. You just perform a bigger one every week so no one can catch up, and eventually a good portion of the public developes corruption fatigue.

[tabasco]

29. As a lot of smart people have noted, the utter corruption of the Bush mafia

was enabled by allowing the Iran-Contra criminals and other criminals of the Reagan administration to subvert our government and not be severely punished.

[Marr]

30. Very true.

And yet, when you look at the players- some of them actually were convicted of various things during the Reagan Administration. Poindexter, for instance.

These people should've been rooted out back in the 80's, no doubt about it. All of them. They're like weeds- leave just a few, and the place will be full of them again before you know it. They make way for their cronies and build the old networks anew in no time.

[Art_from_Ark]

37. Poindexter was convicted in 1990

but his conviction was reversed on appeal and he never actually served any time

[Ghost in the Machine]

3. George W. Bush's Legacy .........

[Decruiter]

4. You are just amazing. Thanks for all you do, all the time! n/t

[seafan]

5. American Conservative Magazine weighs in:

Bushed Army

by Andrew J. Bacevich
June 4, 2007

.....

Granted, President Bush never passes up the chance to pose with the troops or express his warm regard for those who serve and sacrifice. But to judge by results rather than posturing, no commander in chief in American history has cared less about the overall health of America’s Armed Forces.

President Bush will hand over to his successor an Army and Marine Corps that are badly depleted and verging on exhaustion. The real surge is not the one that involves sending more U.S. troops to Baghdad. It is the tidal wave of unsustainable demands that are now engulfing America’s ground forces.

.....

The stress of repeated combat tours is sapping the Army’s lifeblood. Especially worrying is the accelerating exodus of experienced leaders. The service is currently short 3,000 commissioned officers. By next year, the number is projected to grow to 3,500. The Guard and reserves are in even worse shape.

.....

To sustain the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon has resorted to a variety of management techniques, all of which have the effect of increasing the strains on the force and watering down its quality.

.....

As the Army depletes its inventory of equipment—some $212 billion worth has been destroyed, damaged, or just plain worn out—the best of what’s left ends up in Iraq and Afghanistan.

.....

There’s also a second shell game. The Army is incrementally easing its recruiting standards, enlisting thousands of volunteers that the service would previously have classified as unfit.

.....

Perhaps most troubling is the increase in “moral waivers” issued to would-be recruits with criminal records, a history of drug use, and the like. Between 2005 and 2006, the number of waivers that the Army issued to convicted felons jumped by 30 percent.

.....

President Bush has nickeled and dimed the nation’s fighting forces to the verge of collapse. Even today he remains oblivious to the basic problem that his administration has confronted for the past four years—too much war and too few soldiers.

The president’s attitude seems to be: sure, the military is overstretched, but let’s see if we can stretch it just a little bit more. Perhaps he figures that when the rubber band breaks, dealing with the consequences will be someone else’s problem. It’s almost enough to make one nostalgic for Bill Clinton.

There's just nothing left to say.

[Bosso 63]

6. I am always amazed at how much damage Bush has caused.

But the band plays on.

[RedEarth]

7. Another great post..... thanks

[wicket]

8. May he be eteranally damed for this

:grr:

[Nothing Without Hope]

9. I suspect that the destruction of the loyal US military is DELIBERATE

They have their private (though publicly funded) paramilitary thugs ready to take over as the coup continues.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1040790#1043672
title: "What if Bush’s mercenaries turn on us? Is BLACKWATER his Praetorian Guard? MUST READ"

K & R

It's yet another example of the unspeakably cynical, blatant lying, this Bush Administration carrying on about how only they "support the troops." Why don't more people see through it? What do they have on Harry Reid and the other compliant Dem leaders? It must be something, or maybe they have threatened his family or let him know that unless he goes along they will abandon even the pretense of democracy. There must be some reason why he and so many of the others keep backing down. With some it's no doubt straight bribery. I can't believe it's to "placate their constituents":

[SpiralHawk]

10. "Smirk, smirk, smirk" - Commander AWOL

[WinkyDink]

11. The better for Little Boots and Blackwater, n'cest pas?

[Nothing Without Hope]

13. Exactly. See the link in Response # 9 upthread. This is DELIBERATE. n/t

[WinkyDink]

21. Just as his "failure" in NO wasn't the flooding; it was that he didn't succeed in federalizing LA's

NG.
Disasters and death mean nothing to Bush; it's the subsequent POWER and PROFIT that are his "incompetence" raison d'etres.

Re: Blackwater: Why there was no hue and cry when these mercenaries were given pre-crime pardons, as it were, I'll never know.
There must be some fine raping, murdering, pillaging, and plundering being committed with utter impunity by these psychos.

[rudy23]

14. That's okay, now we've got Blackwater, the private army!

The great thing about those guys, is they don't need any orders from Congress, and they aren't in any way beholden to "the people".

Who would win in a ground war between our army, and Blackwater?

[WinkyDink]

22. "What's this 'we', White man?"

[Hissyspit]

15. "If we had known then what we know now..."

EEEEVIL fucking lie of a meme, and it's all over the place.

WE did know then what we know now, and if you didn't, YOU DON'T NEED OR DESERVE TO BE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES!

I'm speaking to you, GOP hopefuls.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

16. I just wish to extend my appreciation to all those taking us into the war...

[SaveAmerica]

17. I agree 100%, this is his legacy

[Virginia Dare]

18. Mission Accomplished...n/t

[Serial Mom]

19. K & R

How the truth becomes evident to almost everybody, except the 25% who blindly believe what the dick and the shrub make up!

[Orsino]

20. Defeat was never a possibility.

The insurgents are not going to overrun our occupation force.

"Victory" was never possible, either. Those talking about "staving off defeat" are simply arguing for eternal occupation, IMO.

[rucky]

23. On To Iran for the Coup de Grace!

then Mission Accomplished.

[EVDebs]

24. I regret that I have only one Greatest Page vote (on this) for my country !

apologies to Nathan Hale. BTW, can our troops see this in Iraq and is this info all censored until they get back to the states ? While at the same time Armed Forces Radio plays them Limbaugh's show ? WTF...

[socretes73]

25. If This Doesn't SCREAM OUT for Impeachment

nothing will

[ProudDad]

26. Just a thought

I suspect that the rest of the world is somewhat relieved that the U.S. military juggernaught has been shown to have feet of clay.

This could turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Just as the Vietnam collapse ushered in a short period of process reform in the Congress (FISA, end COINTELPRO (temporarily), Church Committee, etc) and made the military very leery of committing their precious, shiny war machine without a lot of (so called) thought.

Maybe this new debacle will usher in another period of restraint of the military. I can also hope that war fatigue will cause the power structure to again think about how much treasure they are pissing away on the war machine vs. the good and effective use that money could be put to in domestic spending and international aid and diplomacy.

Vietnam and now Iraq are PROVING that the biggest war machine just makes you the biggest prick on the block... It makes you the hated and feared NOT admired or followed.

The bush destruction of the Carter/ray-gun/bush/Clinton war machine is to me a blessing!

[19jet54]

27. One of my favorite sayings in the military is...

"DO SOMETHING, EVEN IF IT IS WRONG!" - Motto of G.W. Bush?

[TexasLawyer]

28. Awesome post, Lynn

Thanks

[Morgana LaFey]

31. I'm so glad you posted this, with the poll information, etc.

I'd forgotten the caveats that the polls clearly showed re public support. I'm so SICK of Matthews cheerily spouting the LIE that Americans were all FOR the war before the war because, God dammit, they weren't. And now I have the proof of that handy.

Great post. :thumbsup:

[Morgana LaFey]

32. Oh, also -- cui bono?

Why the military-industrial complex, obviously -- IF the republic lasts that long and is even remotely able to raise its head enough to rebuild our military, it'll cost another buncha trillions o' dollars.

[juno jones]

33. Yeah

They'll have to let a dem in office long enough to get the country at a surplus before they can attempt this shit again.

[Morgana LaFey]

36. Ya got that right, and there's a magnificent bar graph that shows that

I don't happen to have the link handy, but it's very clear: Dem = surplus, Republican (starting at least with GHWB) = raiding the Treasury for all their rowdy fascist friends.

[LynnTheDem]

38. Your link

[Morgana LaFey]

39. Thanks. There's actually another one out there, a bar graph

but this certainly serves. Thanks!!

[hankthecrank]

34. K&R n/t

[happygoluckytoyou]

35. PROUD MILITARY CADENCE TO PRESIDENT BUSH

gonzo, he only has one ball
ann coulter has two, but very small
cheney says his are grainy
and bushie got no balls at all

---- at least if you gotta march in iraq you should have a song in your heart

VOTE DEM IN 08 AND SEND THESE SHITS PACKING