It will be interesting to see what Kristol says to this: Listen to Bill Kristol, who's really one helluva jackass whenever he opens his mouth on military matters (specifically here, Rumsfeld's poor reply to the soldier about "up-armoring"):>>>>>
Also, it seems to me that there is a fair amount of blame to go around here....In the 90's, Clinton Adm was hell bent on cutting the military, not only people, but facilities, and supplies, and equipment. The entire Congress knew that and had to vote appropriately (or not)....including McCain, and Lott (yyuk).....
The military Generals in the field today have all said they have enough personnel in Iraq so far. Rumsfeld has to go with what they say.
Per Barnett: Yes, everyone should bitch about the lack of armor for our troops in Iraq, and we should hold the Pentagon's feet to the fire on this issue. But let's remember where this problem began, with the hard Right's refusal to deal with the world as they found it across the 1990s. The Powell Doctrine is a Republican creation, and its essence was the desire to avoid nation-building and peacekeeping at all costs. That bias created the armor problems we have today in the Army in Iraq, because you don't buy for what you're unwilling to do. |
