I keep hearing that the “surge†is succeeding. Really? There are still 600 attacks from insurgents every month. Those attacks kill 1000 Iraqis and 70 or more US soldiers every month.
This must be a definition of success with which I am not familiar.
In the Texas Democratic Primary debate Sen. Obama told a story related to him by an active duty Captain in Afghanistan. The Captain told Sen. Obama that on his first tour in Afghanistan his rifle platoon, usually 39 strong, was reduced to 24 because the others were deployed to Iraq. He further said that things were so bad his troops resorted to using weapons captured from the Taliban because US military supplies were not available. The Captain said that during one inspection by high command they took the functioning Russian machine gun off it’s mounts and replaced it with the non-functioning gun issued by the Army so as to not upset the General. The Pentagon immediately denied the story. The Captain, now a Major, speaking on anonymity (ya’ think?) confirmed to CNN news sources that the story was in all real respects true. Now Army chief of staff Gen. George Casey, testifying before the Senate confirms that “there is no reason to doubt†the story.
One of the signature issues for Sen. Joe Biden has been the upgrading of military hardware for our troops put in harms way in both Afghanistan and Iraq. He has repeatedly voted to fund both conflicts on the grounds that our soldiers needed it to provide, among other things, Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles (MRAPs). The marines requested the new vehicles in 2005 and have yet to receive any of them. I’ve heard two excuses from the Pentagon: the expense of the new vehicles would interfere with other weapons projects and although the vehicles were available immediately from other countries the Military Brass wanted to wait for one developed in the United States. The civilian scientist (an ex Marine officer) assigned to research the delay has asked for whistle blower protection and the study has been canceled by the Marines. Not, however, before the Marines requested the DoD Inspector General investigate the boondoggle. Meanwhile, 700 Marines have died in IED attacks that the MRAP would have withstood.
The United States spends more on our military than the rest of the world combined. Half of all discretionary spending goes to the Pentagon. Yet our soldiers are under-armored, have difficulty getting replacement parts for weapons in the field and with 140,000 soldiers deployed to Iraq the Army is stretched so thin there are serious concerns over how much longer the Iraq and Afghanistan efforts can be maintained.
There is something seriously wrong here.
Military contractors like Blackwater get paid $75,000 a year to carry guns and protect military brass while the soldier standing next to them makes $23,000 a year to do the same thing and can’t count on the Veteran’s Administration to take care of him. We are paying to develop two next generation fighter planes but can’t provide armor plated MRAPs to protect our soldiers today. Ten Billion dollars a year is spent on missile defense which can be defeated with inflatable warhead dummies but soldiers in the field can’t keep their weapons functioning.
President Truman had a name for it: War Profiteering. Dick Cheney’s Halliburton stock value went from a few hundred thousand dollars to over $2 million between 2000 and today. KBR, a former division of Halliburton, reported record profits from construction and oil exploration in Iraq. The number of private contractors in Iraq equals the number of military personnel.
President Eisenhower had a name for it: The Military Industrial Complex. Companies like General Electric, Boeing, Blackwater and a host of other contractors selling to the Complex soak up half a trillion dollars in defense spending every year and we can’t win a war in a country that doesn’t even have an army.
I have a name for it. I will not speak it here.
I am not a religious man but if there is indeed a heaven and a hell, there is a special place for these people.
If you’ve enjoyed the last seven years, vote for McCain. Just like Bush but crazier.
Marines halt MRAP study–whistleblower
Andy Hailey