Hurt? Grab a Gun
This is really too much. I almost wrote that it's too much for the Junta, but really, what has ever been 'too much for the Junta?' What depravity has proven to be something they just can't bring themselves to indulge in? Historians should take note: this is like watching the Fall of the Roman Empire on pay-per-view. "America used to be a really big powerful country, Jimmy."
What am I on about today? Is it Karl Rove getting caught with his hand in the cookie jar - and having to admit he played a role in the federal prosecutor firings? No, that's not it.
How about the additional troops being sent to Iraq, above the 21,500 that have been 'surged' there? Apparently, they're just support troops and jailers for the expected increase in prisoners. See, when they sent the 21,500 (most of whom haven't been sent yet because they can't find 21,500 troops to send) they expected them to live out of their kit bags. Only in the last few days have they decided to give them meals and shelter and supply them with bullets (but not body armour!). So it turns out that they'll need a bunch more troops to do those kinds of things.
Who knew?
But that's not it, either. Daily Kos actually reported on this, and I try not to cover ground that others have trod before me (especially the mighty Kos), but this is too much.
Injured US soldiers and Marines are being sent back to Iraq to serve. To fight. Even though the doctors haven't cleared them. Even though they can't carry their gear without further injury.
Not only is the Junta doing more harm to the injured at Walter Reed (and G-d knows how many other places where the Washington Post can't see them) but they are literally sending wounded men into combat.
That is what worries Steve Robinson, director of veterans affairs at Veterans for America, who has long been concerned that the military was pressing injured troops into Iraq. "Did they send anybody down range that cannot wear a helmet, that cannot wear body armor?" Robinson asked rhetorically. "Well that is wrong. It is a war zone." Robinson thinks that the possibility that physical profiles may have been altered improperly has the makings of a scandal. "My concerns are that this needs serious investigation. You cannot just look at somebody and tell that they were fit," he said. "It smacks of an overstretched military that is in crisis mode to get people onto the battlefield."
Okay. They're stuck. Since the demise of the last and un-lamented 109th Do Nothing Congress, you suddenly can send under-strength units to Iraq without people noticing and actually caring. Now you can't fill out their 'strength' with the wounded. So what are you supposed to do?
It's time to end this farce.
The 110 Congress is less than three months old, so they should get some slack on this, but they must act. Pick a direction and go. Even if it's just investigations, or else a binding resolution that the Repubs in the Senate will have to filibuster - or use their own "nuclear option" on them and rule their filibuster forever out of order.
They have to do something about this.
What am I on about today? Is it Karl Rove getting caught with his hand in the cookie jar - and having to admit he played a role in the federal prosecutor firings? No, that's not it.
How about the additional troops being sent to Iraq, above the 21,500 that have been 'surged' there? Apparently, they're just support troops and jailers for the expected increase in prisoners. See, when they sent the 21,500 (most of whom haven't been sent yet because they can't find 21,500 troops to send) they expected them to live out of their kit bags. Only in the last few days have they decided to give them meals and shelter and supply them with bullets (but not body armour!). So it turns out that they'll need a bunch more troops to do those kinds of things.
Who knew?
But that's not it, either. Daily Kos actually reported on this, and I try not to cover ground that others have trod before me (especially the mighty Kos), but this is too much.
Injured US soldiers and Marines are being sent back to Iraq to serve. To fight. Even though the doctors haven't cleared them. Even though they can't carry their gear without further injury.
Not only is the Junta doing more harm to the injured at Walter Reed (and G-d knows how many other places where the Washington Post can't see them) but they are literally sending wounded men into combat.
That is what worries Steve Robinson, director of veterans affairs at Veterans for America, who has long been concerned that the military was pressing injured troops into Iraq. "Did they send anybody down range that cannot wear a helmet, that cannot wear body armor?" Robinson asked rhetorically. "Well that is wrong. It is a war zone." Robinson thinks that the possibility that physical profiles may have been altered improperly has the makings of a scandal. "My concerns are that this needs serious investigation. You cannot just look at somebody and tell that they were fit," he said. "It smacks of an overstretched military that is in crisis mode to get people onto the battlefield."
Okay. They're stuck. Since the demise of the last and un-lamented 109th Do Nothing Congress, you suddenly can send under-strength units to Iraq without people noticing and actually caring. Now you can't fill out their 'strength' with the wounded. So what are you supposed to do?
It's time to end this farce.
The 110 Congress is less than three months old, so they should get some slack on this, but they must act. Pick a direction and go. Even if it's just investigations, or else a binding resolution that the Repubs in the Senate will have to filibuster - or use their own "nuclear option" on them and rule their filibuster forever out of order.
They have to do something about this.
posted by fiduciary at 8:33 AM
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