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December 02, 2005
Who elects these idiots?
LATROBE, Pa. - Most U.S. troops will leave Iraq within a year because the Army is "broken, worn out" and "living hand to mouth," Rep. John Murtha told a civic group.
First of all, of course most US troops will leave Iraq within a year because deployment rotations are usually a year long at most. Maybe just a bad choice of words...
Second. I look around me and see everyone doing their jobs, doing them well. The gym is full. Soldiers are running outside more now that the weather is cooler. And despite being in a warzone, there is fun and joking and more than just a few smiles.
Yeah, sounds "broken" and "worn out" to me.
Murtha, a decorated Vietnam war veteran, said the Pennsylvania National Guard is "stretched so thin" that it won't be able to send fully equipped units to Iraq next year
Not to slight the PA National Guard, but obviously, if the Pennsylvania National Guard can't get something done, than nobody can!
some guard units had to leave equipment in Iraq when they returned to the United States, which could cause training problems here
You see, Mr Murtha, that is how the military solved alot of the under-equipment problems such as body armor and armored humvees. When a lot of this equipment arrives in Iraq, it gets signed over the unit that replaces you so they are even more prepared than you were. What is not mentioned is that if the PA National Guard returns to Iraq, it will receive alot of the equipment it needs that it does not now have.
Something tells me that if every unit brought back all their equipment, we would hear Rep Murtha complaining about how the PA National Guard was sent to Iraq under-equipped and ill-prepared to face the challenges confronting it. But then again this is probably just another case of any excuse to bash President Bush with as great an audience as possible, and these days, doing it under the guise of "supporting our troops" is the cliche-du-jour.
Congress called this buffoon's bluff just 2 weeks ago when he said he wanted an immediate troop pullout and they put it to a house vote. It failed 403-3. He even voted against it because it seems he doesn't even have the courage to vote his own convictions. Let's hope the people of Latrobe have the good sense to send someone else to congress next year.
Thank God people like Mr Murtha were not in the US congress in the early 1940's when the US Army was conducting 5-year deployments, storming beaches under massive machine-gun fire, marching thousands of miles across continents under fire with absolutely no body armor, shortages of food and ammunition, and facing an enemy a thousand times the strength of our current adversary and with just as much fanatacism.
Posted by TJ at December 2, 2005 07:12 AM
Comments
You took the words right out of my mouth. I'm astounded that these kinds of statements are made by our elected officials. They have to be aware that their ideas will be subjected to scrutiny and research, and in the end they will be made as fools. So why say it in the first place? So bizarre.
Posted by: Holly Aho at December 2, 2005 05:19 PM
This is nothing but partisan posturing and I'm so disgusted by it. They could and should be spending that time and energy working on better for support for our Military. Those of us who see past the BS are getting louder about it.
Hooah!
Posted by: yankeemom at December 2, 2005 06:55 PM
Another good rant ... hope its out of your system. Just like the president, I'm sure you don't want everyone to tell you what you want to hear.
Remember that some of us "liberals" also have a brain. We realize that the guy's statements were a little 'off'. And yes, news was trying to make something of it. The rest of the congress didn't buy it and most of us don't either. Remember tho, that wherever you are getting your news from also has a slant. Those of us old enough know that the US government has lied (outright or by omission) to us before. And the US did not want to enter WWII before Pearl Harbor. Not to start something here on your blog ... my rant's over now.
:) Much love.
Posted by: mom at December 3, 2005 12:29 AM
Please take heart in the fact that Pennsylvanians vote across party lines all the time, at every level of government. It's our little way of ensuring that the system of checks and balances is alive and well. Take a look at our senatorial situation: whatever you may think of these guys individually, we REALLY like the fact that they don't see eye-to-eye on everything, despite being members of the same party. And it's entirely possible that after next year's election we'll have a pro-life Democrat in tandem with our pro-choice Republican. Just a little jab at the bi-partisan system, really.
Statement qualifier: I haven't lived in PA for ten years, but I follow developments there very closely. It'll always be home.
Posted by: Jocelyn at December 3, 2005 12:40 AM
Mom, your response, in a nutshell, is what I, and many others, see as the fundamental problem with liberalism today. There is no debate with each side presenting facts, then letting the listener/reader come to their own conclusions and then accepting the outcome. Today, its "You may not realize it yet, but I know whats best for you and you will thank me for it someday." Then a whole lot of public ranting and screaming if the audience chooses to go the other way. That may work for children, but for the rest of us, you need to start explaining why your way is better, and that is just not happening.
Posted by: TJ at December 3, 2005 07:23 AM
Joce, I suppose you're still a Pens fan as well, since you have no local team out where you are. I think I'm going to have to wait a while longer than you for a cup now that you have the best young talent in the NHL, and the Bruins just traded away their best forward since Espo...
UPDATE: hmmm make that Cam Neely! How could I forget Seabass? :)
Posted by: TJ at December 3, 2005 07:31 AM
Yeah, this new Crosby kid supposedly has potential. And with Mario as his wingman? You'd think they'd be somewhere other than last place in their division.
And don't get me started about the Steelers.
There was a rather provocative critique of liberalism in academia in The Economist last summer. Made me think about how we often try to understand the world in easy dichotomies, when really we're looking at a lot of complexity, and the greater the spectrum of information you look at, truth seems to become a moving target.
Pardon the run-on sentence. It's almost 3am here.
Posted by: Jocelyn at December 6, 2005 01:53 PM
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