From the earliest planning stages until now, the war in Iraq has been a tragic exercise in official incompetence under TIME's 2004 Person of the Year.
Excerpts from:
War on the Cheap
By Bob Herbert
The New York Times
December 20, 2004
The people who were so anxious to launch the war in Iraq are a lot less enthusiastic about properly supporting the troops who are actually fighting, suffering and dying in it. . . . Because of severe military personnel shortages, large numbers of troops are serving multiple tours in the war zone, and many are having their military enlistments involuntarily extended.
Troops approaching the end of their tours in Iraq are frequently dealt the emotional body blow of unexpected orders blocking their departure for home.
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.
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.
Nevertheless the troops have fought valiantly, and the price paid by many has been horrific. They all deserve better than the bad faith and shoddy treatment they are receiving from the highest officials of their government.
War on the Cheap
By Bob Herbert
The New York Times
December 20, 2004
The people who were so anxious to launch the war in Iraq are a lot less enthusiastic about properly supporting the troops who are actually fighting, suffering and dying in it. . . . Because of severe military personnel shortages, large numbers of troops are serving multiple tours in the war zone, and many are having their military enlistments involuntarily extended.
Troops approaching the end of their tours in Iraq are frequently dealt the emotional body blow of unexpected orders blocking their departure for home.
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.
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.
Nevertheless the troops have fought valiantly, and the price paid by many has been horrific. They all deserve better than the bad faith and shoddy treatment they are receiving from the highest officials of their government.
posted by Sid Cottingham | 10:46 PM
1 Comments:
By the time he finally is out of the white house, the death toll (at the current rate) will be about 5000 with something like 30-40,000 wounded, the cost of the war will be at or near 500 billion to 1 trillion dollars, and it will still not be over. We will also have a big, fat problem in the SW Asian region that will need occupation troops for 20 years more, and we will still have the problem of educating generations of Iraqis while our own public school system is underfunded (on purpose- so that we can install a voucher scheme).
There are no WMDs, there is no connection to 9-11 and we have destabilized a region where 25% of our energy needs are supplied.
And this is the guy who declared major combat operations were over 6 weeks into the mess.
It is an absurd failure.
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