U.S. struggles to find troops for Iraq, Afghanistan

The Army, which has been hard pressed to find enough soldiers to man the rotations to Iraq and Afghanistan, may soon be faced with an urgent request to find another 5,000 to 7,000 troops to increase the number of boots on the ground in Iraq.

Commanders there have been quietly signaling an immediate need for at least that many more soldiers to add to the 138,000 Americans already there. This, they say, is the minimum number needed to allow them to pursue the offensive against the insurgents in the wake of the taking of Fallujah.

Far from breaking the back of the insurgency, the capture of Fallujah only served as a signal for the enemy to launch its own offensive in cities across the Sunni triangle and in Baghdad itself. The fighters and leaders who fled Fallujah before the Americans launched their attack simply moved to other cities and went straight to work sowing havoc.

The daily number of attacks and incidents in Iraq is now running more than 100 per day, or double what it was before the Fallujah offensive began. Having taken Fallujah in a violent and bloody campaign that took the lives of more than 50 Americans and uncounted Iraqis and virtually destroyed a city where the insurgents and foreign fighters had had sanctuary and free reign for six months, the Americans now are obliged to rebuild what they destroyed.

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/10264452.htm

After all the USA went through in Viet Nam, how can these guys be so FUCKING STUPID???? Doesn't it just boggle your mind?

Consider that this type of mind views Vietnam not as tragedy and farce but as a moment of greatness thwarted by the enemy of liberalism.

And I hasten to point out another view that also finds value in Vietnam: it is only a matter of weeks since we heard all about John Kerry's "heroism" in that atrocity of a war.

We are talking about the conquering mind, the imperial mind. It doesn't mourn for the millions dead in Vietnam. It just moves on to the next war.

That they think the problem in Vietnam was that we didn't nuke that place back to the stone age. They honestly believe that all they need to do is kill more people and everything will be just "Jim Dandy"

And by Jesus, I mean the draft board.

After the * euphoria is over in January.

during is Coronation speech... Damn, I remember when it was fondly referred to as a Inauguration speech. Ahhh, those where the days when a President had the lowest abortion rate and the economy was doing so well we had enough money to spare... BUBBA where are you?!?!

the rooms crowded with lobbyists and their assistants,
and the corridors traversed by the chickens and their hawks
and he did smite them.
With the call to arms he did smite them.

And there was no weeping in the land.
There was no gnashing of teeth nor sound of despair
from the undisclosed location wherein they all hid
with spiders in their hidey holes.

but these stories are not widely known -- just spot reporting.

Some sort of draft is gonna happen -- especially if the rumors we hear about Iran or Syria are on bushies Man Date agenda.

The major problem is that bushie is not dealing with reality -- WARS are expensive -- and paying for wars (health care of the Vets etc and replacement of equipment) and his wishes to be the eternal war President while refusing to tax his bestest buddies (the very very rich guys that he knows so well) -- are in conflict.

But then the voices in his head keep telling him - KILL KILL KILL KILL.

Kerry is right about his meme -- Birth tax -- and these kids are the ones who will be cleaning up after all the bushie messes.

If I were religious I'd say pray for the children.

the cost of this war. I've posted many times that I believe that's the ONLY thing that will stop them: the unbelievable, hair-raising cost of this war. I think if they could, they would be waging 10 WARS around the world at the same time.

The only thing that's stopping them is finances. I've predicted that when we run out of money, they will stop the warfare. Nothing else. And they know this. And they know SO much that we don't know. There have been a lot of closed-door meetings where fists have pounded the table, a lot of finger-pointing and cursing has been done.

I think the 2 principal planners of this war were Cheney and RumsFailed. I'm not sure Bush really wanted it, but he went along with it because they presented a good case for it.

Think back to Cheney who told Sen. Leahy to "go fuck himself". RumsFailed was interviewed recently. He instantly became exasperated and railed at the interviewer when asked about the troop levels. They are sweating profusely.

And they're in a quandary about what to do. Pull back and let the other vultures around the world move in and take their oil? Or continue to push forward at enormous expense. Lost lives don't matter to them. They're expendable. It's the cost that's burning at their heels. Time is not on their side.

The cost of this war is now at $5.8 billion per month. It may be even more, but this is the figure they're divulging. I believe we've spent more than $270 billion.

They are truly caught in a trap.

Sorry, that's a complete and utter fantasy...

enlisted guys are there for 15?

why areeeee we there? we know we shouldn't be, but the morons of merika just can't fathom that their pResident should be thrown in prison for war crimes... :(


www.cafepress.com/warisprofitable

DETROIT (AP) -- Thanksgiving brought more heartache than joy for Sgt. Ricci Moore, a single mother who is training in Wisconsin for an expected two-year stint in Iraq.

She will feel more thankful, she said, once she is deployed and her time of service starts ticking down.

"The sooner I get there, the sooner I can get home," Moore told the Detroit Free Press from Fort McCoy, Wis., 535 miles from her Detroit home and son Joey, 9, whom she left behind six weeks ago.

http://www.freep.com/news/mich/armymom25e_20041125.htm

:(

"The Army, which has been hard pressed to find enough soldiers to man the rotations to Iraq and Afghanistan, may soon be faced with an urgent request to find another 5,000 to 7,000 troops to increase the number of boots on the ground in Iraq... This, they say, is the minimum number needed to allow them to pursue the offensive against the insurgents in the wake of the taking of Fallujah."

Every "victory" just deepens the quagmire.

who said that he hadn't enlisted because "our soldiers did such a great job in Fallujah, they obviously have plenty over there. Besides, I pay my taxes (that I bitch and whine about incessantly)". :eyes:

No more excuses Freeps; get yer butts down to your local recruitment office. If you want this war so badly, then pay for it with your own blood!

Now we have close to 140K troops.

If only americans knew the story. Too bad they never will, and never will seek out the real info on it.

put a damper on his job, wouldn't it?

Bush knows he can't get away with a draft politically--it will ruin midterm elections and completely jettison the "mandate". He'll hold these lousy January elections no matter what and then just try to hang in there with what he's got looking for the first opportunity for an "honorable" pullout.

This will of course leave Iraq as a total FUBARed clusterfuck. The Bushies may not have figured out yet that it's truly broken but I guarantee you he is in fact being told this behind closed doors by the brass.

Essentially, Bush has no options. He's painted himself into the FUBAR corner.

,...along with propaganda concerning next target (Iran) is heightened, Busholini will hit the new trifecta excusing the "necessity" of a draft,...and the young right-wing American men and women will patriotically march into the PNAC world war.

Such fantasies must make the mouths of Wolfowitz and Perle water.

Combat pay cuts, pension cuts, fighting unnecessary wars. God help us if we actually have to defend ourselves one day.

young people.

Surely there will be no youth "left behind" as they serve their "40 Days of Purpose"!

When you have pulpits in most every small minded town Blinding by the "light" they will not have no problem getting their Christian solders.

Soon the draft will become the 23rd duty of our "Corporate Run TheoCRAZY!"

:evilfrown:

And there is repeated talk that the Navy is not pulling it's fair share. It will get to the point where Navy and Air Force enlisted folks (who are not trained for this stuff and never dreamed they would be on the ground) will find themselves carrying an M16 in Baghdad. There is already a "Blue to Green" initiative taking place.

Not to say Sailors and Airman won't be able to cut the mustard, but the bottom line is that if Rummy has his way, the lines between the branches will be blurred so that even though a recruit might think "I'm going to work on jet engines", he might very well find himself getting shot at. Not a lot of Iraqi submarines to worry about, now are there?.

of man power shortages. The last time I can recall this type of thing being done was when the British used naval battalions on the western front in the First World War.

edit for link http://www.sciencedaily.com/encyclopedia/british_63rd__royal_naval__division

On my minesweeper in Korea long ago. I had my very own M-1. All the sweeps had landing,boarding parties.

180

What's morale like?

troops. :shrug:

So they should put their heads where their voting finger went.

Said bushCartel last year.

You'd think people (the stupid 51%) would realize by now; EVERYTHING bush says turns out WRONG. EVERYTHING bush touches ends up a total FUBAR.

EVERYTHING EVERY TIME.

Draft all of them to Iraq. That's a big block from the 51% of the population.