I have argued before that the Republican party, George Bush and their appointees at the Pentagon must hate their own troops - for a variety of reasons ranging from lack of life-saving equipment through stealing their pay all the way to making them homeless and bankrupt when they return as heroes from Iraq or Afghnaistan.
Now, via Operation Truth comes an article from the New York Times which gives the tale of "Marines from an infantry company of the 1st Marine Division, which sustained the highest casualty rates of any company in Iraq, spoke up about unnecessary casualties due to shortages of needed armor and resources." It's a must read - stories of Foreign Legion desperation when, short of men, the Marines manned outposts with dummies, a C.O. who seems to have been admired by his men but who was relieved for speaking out against higher authorities fuckups...and the most telling quote of all:
Pentagon officials say they do not know how many of the more than 1,500 American troops who have died in the war had insufficient protective gear.
Shall I tell them that their own medical staff estimate about half, then?
The Bush administration couldn't plan a drinking competition in a brewery. My colleague Fester has a well researched post over at the Unpaid Punditry Corps where he argues that they are destroying their own army, in a very real and worrying way.
It is not a sudden event; instead it is a process. The reserves and National Guard are rapidly hollowing out. The units that are on the second and third tour are experiencing massive retention problems combined with combat casualities. Recruiting problems for the ground combat forces are still occurring despite exceedingly high incentives, and lower standards. And now the officer corps is starting to face the threat of a long term degradation of new officers.
*Ssssh...don't mention the Vietnam parallel, it upsets all those ostritches on the Right*
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