The Washington Post has an article about falling troop morale in Baghdad as troops hear they may be staying longer. This is a major concern. The morale of our fighting forces is key to military success, and keeping them in Iraq may weaken the military later through a lower re-enlistment rate in the future.
The Bush Administration needs to start transitioning police power towards the Iraqi people to allow our troops to return home. Already Ahmed Chalabi of the Iraqi National Congress has said that he can have 5,000 policemen on the ground at any time, and 25,000 in a matter of months. Now Chalabi isn’t the most reputable of characters, but the government has simply rebuffed his offer rather than at least giving it a try. A native Iraqi police force would not only relieve our troops, but would reduce the terrorist attacks on US soldiers and be a positive sign Iraq will be returned to the people. Chalabi’s troops will need to be carefully monitored, but if they can allow even 10,000 American troops to go home to their families it will have been a worthwhile tradeoff.
The Pentagon needs to be proactive in balancing the needs of the troops with the needs of stabilizing Iraq. At some point the Iraqis will have to take control pf their government, and if we can’t trust them to police themselves now, exactly when will we be able to? The situation requires a new plan, and our soldiers have earned the right to see their families again.
With as bad of a week as the Pentagon and the misbegotten Commander-in-Chief have had, one would think the last thing they would want to do is give the public and the troops even more reason to doubt their word. It would be amusing to watch the arrogantly overempowered button-pushers in the administration and Pentagon destroy themselves, but the human toll of the people sacrificing everything to serve the illegitimate cause stifles my joy. Just as military enrollment has been increasing, the Pentagon seems intent on discouraging the trend with their pathological lying to the people who have put their trust in them.
Keep dreaming, Mark. As for your stifled joy. I’ll give you something to be happy about. Remember how you claimed that Pentagon was taking 50% of the federal budget? Well, rejoice! In reality its only 16%. There. That should keep ya happy.
I conceed my faulty numbers in regards to the Pentagon budget (wouldn’t it be nice if Bush could conceed his bad information as well). I didn’t have the source in front of me as I cited it and got it wrong, leaving the necessary term “discretionary” out of the statement. My point in citing that information wasn’t in the numbers as much as the premise of a retired Navy General admitting the wasteful spending practices of his former employers….even though conservatives and too many liberals are perfectly content to apply different accountability standards to the Pentagon than any other government agency.
My point in citing that information wasn’t in the numbers…
The point is that you thought that 50% was realistic. If you didn’t you would’ve double checked.
Mark,
Two notes for your credibility’s sake.
1) It’s “concede”, not “Conceed”.
2) “Generals” in the Navy are called “Admirals”. Unless they’re Marines.
Mitch, duly noted. I had been awake 15 minutes when I wrote the post, so I have a decent excuse. Of course, even half asleep, my postings make more sense than most of the right-wing drivel written on this board by people who are fully awake.
Defense department takes 50%… Navy General…
This post is starting to look like the New York Times…