Support the troops, because Donald Rumsfeld and his yes men generals aren't.
Still.
A Father's Day story in The Arizona Republic tells of a dad spending $600 on a state-of-the-art flak jacket and other equipment for his son in the Marine Corps who is about to deploy to Iraq. John Tod of Mesa, Arizona says his son's superiors "strongly suggested he get this equipment because when they get to Iraq they will wish they had."
No, this didn't take place two years ago, or even a year ago, or even three months ago. It's taking place right now, in June of 2005.
Mr. Tod's congressional representative, J.D. "Bush Boy" Hayworth, claims he never heard of a service member being told to buy his own equipment. If that's true, it's only because Hayworth's ears are covered over by his butt cheeks.
In a related story from June 21, The Boston Globe reveals the findings of a report by the Marine Corps inspector general: "The estimated 30,000 Marines in Iraq need twice as many heavy machine guns, more fully protected armored vehicles, and more communications equipment. About a quarter of the Second Marine Expeditionary Force's Humvees lack sufficient armor to protect troops against roadside bombings, including 1,000 vehicles that have yet to be fitted with armor plates to protect the undercarriage."
Hey! Maybe that's the White House's secret exit strategy. We won't pull the troops out until they're equipped to fight, no matter how long it takes.
Words can't express how angry I am over this. Imagine: a cabal of rich men with imperial ambitions take over a country, lie to the entire world to justify an invasion it's been planning for years, talks the population into funding the military to the tune of a half trillion dollars a year, but doesn't bother to fully equip the very troops who carry out its malignant strategy.
Too strange to be fiction, huh?
Well...
We can't say nobody ever told us what absolute power does.
Jeff
Dick Cheney's Halliburton take a cut in profits to help out the troops?
ReplyDeleteNever happen.
Funny how Big Dick was CEO of Halliburton during the same time period he was with the PNAC, helping formulate the policy to invade Iraq.
Check out the Young Republicans National Convention July 6-10 at Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas NV:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.yrnc2005.com
They're looking for the normal Care Package-type items (phone cards, etc.) for the troops.
How about some Body Armor?
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I have to wonder if they don't see the irony in having to send anything to the troops at all when their party is spending about half a trillion dollars a year on "defense."
ReplyDeleteWhat bothers me about this "convention" is that a generation of young republicans are adopting what I consider to be a perverted form of conservatism.
The party of Lincoln has become the party of Rove: "You can fool most of the people most of the time."
Thanks for stopping by and posting.
Jeff