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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 01/28/2006 : 12:23:38
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Actually, there are lots of things that I don't understand; indeed many of them things that everyone else grasps well enough. So maybe it's just me and it all makes perfect sense.
To sum up: we are involved in a conflict and civil war in Iraq, done on the cheap with a smaller than necessary (and under-equiped) force; we are making threatening noises at Iran; Afganistan is virtually back in the pockets of the Taliban and the feudal tribes; Osama bin Laden is happily spewing forth threats, assuming the latest tape is not faked (got some doubts on that); there were not enough National Guard troops available to be effective during Katrina's aftermath; most if not all of the various states' NG units are undermanned and 'most any serious emergency could easily be New Orleans all over again; and now this:
quote:
Bush to Propose Trimming Army Reserve
Bush to Propose Cutting Size of Army Reserve, Stripping Billions From Fighter Aircraft Programs
By LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - President Bush will use his new budget to propose cutting the size of the Army Reserve to its lowest level in three decades and stripping up to $4 billion from two fighter aircraft programs.
The proposals, likely to face opposition on Capitol Hill, come as the Defense Department struggles to trim personnel costs and other expenses to pay for the war in Iraq and a host of other pricey aircraft and high-tech programs. Bush will send his 2007 budget to Congress on Feb. 6.
The proposed Army Reserve cut is part of a broader plan to achieve a new balance of troop strength and combat power among the active Army, the National Guard and reserves to fight the global war on terrorism and to defend the homeland.
The Army sent a letter to members of Congress on Thursday outlining the plan. A copy was provided to The Associated Press.
Under the plan, the authorized troop strength of the Army Reserve would drop from 205,000 the current number of slots it is allowed to 188,000, the actual number of soldiers it had at the end of 2005. Because of recruiting and other problems, the Army Reserve has been unable to fill its ranks to its authorized level.
Army leaders have said they are taking a similar approach to shrinking the National Guard. They are proposing to cut that force from its authorized level of 350,000 soldiers to 333,000, the actual number now on the rolls.
So, I guess my question is: Whaddafork? It makes neither rhyme nor reason to me. 
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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pleco
SFN Addict
USA
2998 Posts |
 Posted - 01/28/2006 : 12:40:05 [Permalink]
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| I saw that today in the paper. Something doesn't make much sense. I know that my bias says that Bush and his cronies has not one clue as to what is going on...is this really the case? Either Bush is a moron (likely) or something else is really screwed up (also likely), or both? |
by Filthy
The neo-con methane machine will soon be running at full fart. |
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H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
Posted - 01/28/2006 : 13:06:28 [Permalink]
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It sounds like they are trying to reduce the size of the reserve to "the actual number now on the rolls" just so the Bush spin machine can say "recruiting slump? What recruiting slump? We've met capacity."
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"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
| Edited by - H. Humbert on 01/28/2006 13:06:48 |
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ronnywhite
SFN Regular
501 Posts |
Posted - 01/28/2006 : 13:16:39 [Permalink]
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What I wonder is how we're going to sustain the effort effectively in Iraq for the duration- even if that means a couple of years- if they're stressed to the limit right now and the Regular Army is so undermanned... that's assuming the media takes are accurate in the lack of progress being made towards stability (I have heard other opinions???) If we exit prematurely (assuming a "mature" state is attainable) and all hell breaks loose- well, that might mean... "All the king's horses and all the king's men..."
Edited to krect spellin |
Ron White |
| Edited by - ronnywhite on 01/28/2006 13:18:10 |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 01/28/2006 : 13:32:40 [Permalink]
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Yes, yes, probably y'all are right -- which brings up yet another question: is this whole Mid East ron d'lay little more than a titanic PR canpaign to cover up a garguantian power grab, not to mention the money? If so, those responsible should be dragged out their offices by their ears and put in the dock on capital charges.
I wonder what the October Suprise will be this time -- a curosity that adds to the doubts that I harbor on the latest bin Laden tape. Are we being set up?
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 01/28/2006 : 15:23:23 [Permalink]
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From day one, I found it hard to believe that such a small force was being sent into Iraq, but I briefly came to accept that the "on the cheap" gamble might work. This, despite the fact that Rumsfeld's Iraq game plan was a total rejection of of the previously prevailing (Colin) "Powell Doctrine," which I thought was a sound one. Powell advocated the use of overwhelming force to achieve victory with minimal casualties, but only after some very important questions had been answered in the affirmative.
These questions, according to Wikipedia, were:
* Is a vital national security interest threatened?
* Do we have a clear attainable objective?
* Have the risks and costs been fully and frankly analyzed?
* Have all other non-violent policy means been fully exhausted?
* Is there a plausible exit strategy to avoid endless entanglement?
* Have the consequences of our action been fully considered?
* Is the action supported by the American people?
* Do we have genuine broad international support?
Anyway, I suspended my disbelief. I remember worrying about keeping order, though. There was a scene where unembedded TV journalists were interviewing some of the thousands of enlisted deserters from the Iraqi army, who were making a long foot trek from Iraq's north back to their homes in the south. These guys were finished with Saddam, and seemed quite friendly. I remember thinking, "Why can't our Army send choppers, buses, or trucks to pick up these poor guys and give them a ride? Matter of fact, why aren't Special Forces types recruiting them en masse?" Then I realized, oh, yeah, our invasion force is up to its neck just trying to protect its own convoys.
Then, of course, came the insurgency, which seems to have been completely unanticipated by both the idiot in the White House and the madman in the Pentagon.
filthy uttered: quote:
I wonder what the October Surprise will be this time
Am I right in assuming that you are referring to the next Presidential contest? It's hard for a lame-duck President to get any mileage out of an October Surprise. Any falling-in-line-with-our-leader crisis would not transfer effectively to a separate candidate.
But if the "Surprise" is simply a coup, that's another matter. I no longer assume this fellow and his junta will voluntarily leave office at the end of his term. I've been surprised and fooled by this guy for the last time, I hope. I now assume the worst, and hope for the best. I would not put a coup attempt past him, as he's already been wiping his ass with our Constitution. |
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
| Edited by - HalfMooner on 01/28/2006 16:25:16 |
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9687 Posts |
Posted - 01/28/2006 : 15:32:29 [Permalink]
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Well, America has one of, if not THE strongest airforce in the world.
As such, some billions are better spent on protection of ground forces already deployed.
Whether or not Bush is going to spend those cuts on that, now that is a completely different story. It's not like hasn't already holes in the budget he needs to fill. |
Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 01/28/2006 : 17:46:18 [Permalink]
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HalfMooner qouth:
quote:
Am I right in assuming that you are referring to the next Presidential contest? It's hard for a lame-duck President to get any mileage out of an October Surprise. Any falling-in-line-with-our-leader crisis would not transfer effectively to a separate candidate.
Doesn't have to. It's just a matter of replacing one lobotomized parrot with another and "keepin' up the skeer." The power remains in the same hands, and the sheep follow the drunken shepard, who himself, is on a short tether.
But I was refering to the up-coming popularity contest. Bush is taking beating in the polls and some few of the media that formerly enabled him are in the process of turning their coats (again). If he loses the majority in either or both houses of Congress, he could find himself in some real, personal trouble. Mutters of impeachment are now audible.
Which is why I am a little suspicious of the alledged bin Laden tape. It wasn't so long ago that every time Bush took a minor hit in the polls, the bullshit Terror Alert changed color like a chameleon. That won't work any more. Everyone's hip to it, and are treating it like the bad joke that it is, and has been from the beginning. Are they going at it from another tack?
I dunno, I dunno. As the year winds down toward Nov., we might get a really nasty suprise followed by fierce rhetoric that only Republicans can keep the country safe -- the fact that the suprise and other disasters happened on their watch being snugly buried in the verbage. And with Alito on the Supremos, we might have little recourse in the law.
Hoard canned goods and stockpile ammunition.....
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 01/28/2006 : 22:53:09 [Permalink]
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quote:
is this whole Mid East ron d'lay little more than a titanic PR canpaign to cover up a garguantian power grab, not to mention the money? If so, those responsible should be dragged out their offices by their ears and put in the dock on capital charges.
Yes.
And Yes.
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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beskeptigal
SFN Die Hard
USA
3834 Posts |
Posted - 01/29/2006 : 00:34:38 [Permalink]
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Power grab, actions speak. Planned before 09/11/01, it's in Richard Clark's book that it was planned in 12/99 pending a big event to make the public agree. Money grab, remember the scene in Michael Moore's movie where the man in the suit is telling the audience in suits about all the money to be made in Iraq?
Did anyone catch the Frontline documentary about the private contractors in Iraq?
Who needs an army when you have all the money China will lend you that you can give to all your friends and business partners for those lucrative Iraq contracts? And guess what? At the end of the day, someone else has to pay the bill. You and your friends are where the money went so you don't care about paying the fraction of your share you can't manipulate the tax code to get out of.
I'm going to lose a $50 bet because I bet a friend we'd have a draft if we invaded Iraq since there is no way it would be the fairy tale Bush and company imagined. Well, it wasn't the fairy tale but what I hadn't known when I made the bet, Bush never intended to use the military alone. He intended to send in the contractors.
Iraqi cement company, out of business, contractors got the work and import the stuff that used to be an Iraqi export. 50-60% unemployment, contractors are making a bundle driving trucks for heaven's sake. As if there were no truck drivers to hire in Iraq? Food service, Haliburton not only has the contract, Bremer OKed the missing billions claiming an American style auditing system would delay the set up of services. Excuse me? Delay the services? This is an American company. They have auditors. And they were setting up shop months before we even set foot on Iraqi soil.
I'm getting an ulcer...
Forgot to add, I understand,... all too well. Condisering the Abramoff stuff, I wonder how many of those billions Bremer himself took home? |
| Edited by - beskeptigal on 01/29/2006 00:37:38 |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 01/29/2006 : 03:59:58 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by beskeptigal
Power grab, actions speak. Planned before 09/11/01, it's in Richard Clark's book that it was planned in 12/99 pending a big event to make the public agree. Money grab, remember the scene in Michael Moore's movie where the man in the suit is telling the audience in suits about all the money to be made in Iraq?
Did anyone catch the Frontline documentary about the private contractors in Iraq?
Who needs an army when you have all the money China will lend you that you can give to all your friends and business partners for those lucrative Iraq contracts? And guess what? At the end of the day, someone else has to pay the bill. You and your friends are where the money went so you don't care about paying the fraction of your share you can't manipulate the tax code to get out of.
I'm going to lose a $50 bet because I bet a friend we'd have a draft if we invaded Iraq since there is no way it would be the fairy tale Bush and company imagined. Well, it wasn't the fairy tale but what I hadn't known when I made the bet, Bush never intended to use the military alone. He intended to send in the contractors.
Iraqi cement company, out of business, contractors got the work and import the stuff that used to be an Iraqi export. 50-60% unemployment, contractors are making a bundle driving trucks for heaven's sake. As if there were no truck drivers to hire in Iraq? Food service, Haliburton not only has the contract, Bremer OKed the missing billions claiming an American style auditing system would delay the set up of services. Excuse me? Delay the services? This is an American company. They have auditors. And they were setting up shop months before we even set foot on Iraqi soil.
I'm getting an ulcer...
Forgot to add, I understand,... all too well. Condisering the Abramoff stuff, I wonder how many of those billions Bremer himself took home?
Impeach, indite, try, and incarcerate. NOW, maggots!
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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GeeMack
SFN Regular
USA
1093 Posts |
Posted - 01/29/2006 : 08:11:39 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by beskeptigal...
I'm going to lose a $50 bet because I bet a friend we'd have a draft if we invaded Iraq since there is no way it would be the fairy tale Bush and company imagined. Well, it wasn't the fairy tale but what I hadn't known when I made the bet, Bush never intended to use the military alone. He intended to send in the contractors.
Well if you ask me, there is a "draft". Keeping people in the service beyond their initial terms under threat of imprisonment isn't a draft, in a technical sense. But I wouldn't write your pal that $50 check just yet...quote:
US Army Forces 50,000 Soldiers into Extended Duty...
The U.S. Army has forced about 50,000 soldiers to continue serving after their voluntary stints ended under a policy called "stop-loss," but while some dispute its fairness, court challenges have fallen flat.
[...]
"As the war in Iraq drags on, the Army is accumulating a collection of problems that cumulatively could call into question the viability of an all-volunteer force," said defense analyst Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute think tank.
"When a service has to repeatedly resort to compelling the retention of people who want to leave, you're edging away from the whole notion of volunteerism."
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beskeptigal
SFN Die Hard
USA
3834 Posts |
Posted - 01/29/2006 : 12:47:14 [Permalink]
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Oh there is indeed a back door draft. They called quite a few retired service people back as well. People who thought they'd never be called back but there was that fine print. But I don't know if that will qualify as a draft for my bet.
But now that I read that story, I'm going to print it up for possibly calling the bet a draw. |
| Edited by - beskeptigal on 01/29/2006 12:50:09 |
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