HOW UNSAFE HAS BUSH MADE OUR COUNTRY?

A few weeks ago I did a series of stories about national security candidates on Taylor Marsh's blog. The overall theme was to explain how getting rid of the rubber stamp Congress and replacing the leadership with Democrats would make America safer. I interviewed a dozen Democrats for the series, many of whom have military backgrounds, all of whom have national security priorities in their campaigns. Several of the ex-military men talked about what an abysmally bad steward, not to mention Commander-in-Chief, Bush has been. Several actually talked about how his regime has wrecked the military. In fact, you might want to take a look at the piece on Eric Massa, "What Has Bush Done To Our Military?"

Although Eric's immediate concern was about the Marine Corps, he was boiling about how "the misguided and misrepresented war in Iraq is sapping our military strength at an unprecedented rate. Both manpower and materiel are suffering across every branch of the service. The cost to replace critical equipment has already reached $50 billion-- for the Army alone-- and the tab is growing larger every day. The US Air Force is literally burning out its aircraft flying extended logistics and combat missions that were never anticipated in the pre-war planning. New aircraft are too expensive, and the latest generation fighters will not be available in time to bridge the widening gap. The Navy... is now reduced to its smallest size since well before the time when my father enlisted, back in the World War II era. Available ships are enduring double and triple deployments in hotspots around the world, with some on continuous duty in the Persian Gulf. Even regular crew rotations cannot change the simple truth: the equipment is wearing out and the people are wearing thin."

Today's Slate published a story by Fred Kaplan called "How Bush Wrecked The Army" and it goes beyond the retired generals who have been blowing the whistle on Rumsfeld's catastrophic handling of Iraq. Kaplan writes about the Army Chief of Staff, the current one, General Peter Schoomaker, and his concerns about the "Army's ability to keep functioning," something reported on yesterday in The L.A. Times.

President Clinton handed Bush a military force superior to anything the world has ever seen. Bush's inexperience coupled with the Know-it-all attitude of the neo-Cons with whom he surrounded himself, has severely damaged that force and made our country less safe and less potent. The rubber stamp Congress sat by and passively watched, while they gorged themselves on the easy fruits of corruption. Their deal from the White House was surely to steal whatever you want, just don't make any waves. It's beyond just calling on Rumsfeld to retire or be fired. It's time to throw all the rascals out. Harman and Pelosi are demanding Bush come clean and stop covering up Iraq intelligence to deceive Americans for partisan goals.

And the response from The Regime? Condoleeza has a bizarre, and probably career-ending, national hissy fit, viciously-- as well as misleadingly-- attacking Bill Clinton. Christy makes a lot more sense than Condi-- any day of the week.


UPDATE: IF YOU'D LIKE TO WATCH WHAT THE 3 MILITARY COMMANDERS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT HOW THE BUSH REGIME IS SCREWING UP...

Major General John Batiste: http://youtube.com/watch?v=jPxZLLLb3RY

Major General Paul Eaton: http://youtube.com/watch?v=DMqL82RK4V8

Col. Thomas Hannes http://youtube.com/watch?v=xM4wkcQEgdo