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Politics : Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Kerry -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dan B. who wrote (70535)	11/20/2005 1:19:41 PM
From: Orcastraiter	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 81568

There's serious doubt about the number and level of preparedness of the Iraqi troops. That number has been pushed, pulled, massaged and lied about too many times. So much so that those of us who read what Rumsfeld and his General du jour have to say about the Iraqi army have no choice but to question the validity of the numbers du jour. As for infrastructure, you don't need to rebuild what you don't bomb. That'd be lesson number one. But of course if you do bomb it, you have to be prepared to rebuild it. To date the utility situation in Baghdad is still not up to pre-war levels. Mt point, as you probably understood but dodged anyway, was not that we should neglect rebuilding what we destroyed, but that the level of investment in building the Iraqi Army should be at least as high as we budget for rebuilding the electrical grid that we bombed! The underlying concept here...and I'll spell it out for you because otherwise you won't be able to understand it...is that we are under investing in building, equipping and training the Iraqis to take on the job that is said to be critical to our being able to withdraw. Because of this obvious underfunded operation, I believe that the administration has no intention of turning over security to the Iraqis, and If they did...how about some armor? How about some helicopters? How about some body armor? The Iraqi Army is rag tag...barely equipped...and is far far far short of the level we expect for our own troops. Perhaps this is why the Iraqi casualties have now exceeded the American casualties! I suppose that you're now gonna call Rumsfeld a liar, and say that the Iraqis will be ready next year, and we can begin withdrawal of our boys and girls? Rummy says it's a decade of hard work to be done. But who knows perhaps you're in the Cheney "Last Throes" camp? Or perhaps you don't know what to think? And that my friend is exactly where this administration likes to keep you...in the dark. So far I'd say they have been very effective at doing so with you. Fortunately for our nation, and the Iraqi people the tide is turning. Looks like the majority of Americans have had enough of this Neocon experiment gone wrong. Orca