BOB HERBERT: War on the Cheap

Troops approaching the end of their tours in Iraq are frequently dealt the emotional body blow of unexpected orders blocking their departure for home. "I've never seen so many grown men cry," said Paul Rieckhoff, a former infantry platoon leader who founded Operation Truth, an advocacy group for soldiers and veterans.

"Soldiers will do whatever you ask them to do," said Mr. Rieckhoff. "But when you tell them the finish line is here, and then you keep moving it back every time they get five meters away from it, it starts to really wear on them. It affects morale."

We don't have enough troops because we are fighting the war on the cheap. The Bush administration has refused to substantially expand the volunteer military and there is no public support for a draft. So the same troops head in and out of Iraq, and then back in again, as if through a revolving door. That naturally heightens their chances of being killed or wounded.

A reckoning is coming.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/20/opinion/20herbert.html

jr. who never followed thru on anything in his life , is now asking our young men and women to just bob there heads and say sure we will be glad to come back for ya , b.s. i would never ask any body to do anything that i would'nt do myself

From the same article:

"When the war in Afghanistan as well as Iraq is considered, some experts believe that the number of American troops needing mental health treatment could exceed 100,000.

From the earliest planning stages until now, the war in Iraq has been a tragic exercise in official incompetence. The original rationale for the war was wrong. The intelligence was wrong. The estimates of required troop strength were wrong. The war hawks' guesses about the response of the Iraqi people were wrong. The cost estimates were wrong, and on and on."

Makes me nuts! And the majority voted for this???????

WRONG WRONG WREONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG

http://americafirst2004.blogspot.com/2004/05/sad-image-of-next-non-bush-president.html">The Sad Image of the Next Non-Bush President of the United States

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

I'm trying to get the feel of this forum app... but it's slow going :)

Ghee, if we all donated $10 bucks, do you think they would install better forum software?

Heck, PHP is FREE!

we went to war unnecessarily.

The "war on the cheap" meme will only serve to ratchet up the war machine, increase the war bugdet, and feed the fatted class of war exploiters.

Since I was a little boy, and first heard the Battle Hymn of the Republic...(it made me cry inconsolably).

To this day, whenever I hear it, I break down.

Nothing else in my life has had an effect on me like that.