Has the Bush Doctrine failed?

[tw]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

The military is as strong as it has ever been. We have the draft discussion every six months for the last few years and everyone who has brought it up is still wrong.

And then we learn from history. When America was in a war based on lies and when the war was not being won, the military readiness was both poor - and not acknowledged. When the war is not being won, when the military does not even have a strategic objective (and no exit strategy), and when top government officials lie about this, then the military has severe problems in both manpower and equipment.

That just well proven by history. And then we move forward to see what America's first line units are doing. From the NY Times of 25 Sept 2006 is what Vietnam also proved:

Unit Makes Do as Army Strives to Plug Gaps
The pressures that the conflict in Iraq is putting on the Army are apparent amid the towering pine trees of southeast Georgia, where the Third Infantry Division is preparing for the likelihood that it will go back to Iraq for a third tour.

Col. Tom James, who commands the division’s Second Brigade, acknowledged that his unit’s equipment levels had fallen so low that it now had no tanks or other armored vehicles to use in training and that his soldiers were rated as largely untrained in attack and defense. ...

But at a time when Pentagon officials are saying the Army is stretched so thin that it may be forced to go back on its pledge to limit National Guard deployment overseas, the division’s situation is symptomatic of how the shortages are playing out on the ground.

The enormous strains on equipment and personnel, because of longer-than-expected deployments, have left active Army units with little combat power in reserve. The Second Brigade, for example, has only half of the roughly 3,500 soldiers it is supposed to have. The unit trains on computer simulators, meant to recreate the experience of firing a tank’s main gun or driving in a convoy under attack.

“It’s a good tool before you get the equipment you need,” Colonel James said. But a few years ago, he said, having a combat brigade in a mechanized infantry division at such a low state of readiness would have been “unheard of.”

Let's see. Last time the administration and right wing extremists lied - denied the war was unwinnable and denied the military was stretched so thin .... Deja Vue Vietnam.

Military equipment so worn, so few, and ... well back in Vietnam, the nation's first line combat units when not actively deployed also had same severe shortages of troops and working equipment. What then happened? The Draft.

Why do I keep posting in direct contradiction to those who somehow always know only using a political agenda?

I was in a machine shop that was resurfacing some of the largest drum brakes I have ever seen. What were they from? Studebaker trucks. A local Army transport unit was reconditioning their Studebaker trucks for deployment to Iraq. The US military is reaching that far down into equipment to maintain the war in Iraq. UT says otherwise. But the engineer has this damn blasted tendency to look at technical facts and details - and see what he also saw in 1969 - Deja Vue Vietnam.

I have no political agenda. I am a centrist which means reality is more important. 2nd Brigade does not even have equipment to train. The 3rd ID is one this nations fast reaction forces. And yet they don't even have half their men. UT tells us that America was never stronger - in direct contradiction to facts from the NY Times AND from lessons in history - Vietnam.

Am I blunt and rude? Yes, I am that honest about reality – especially when extremist political agendas would so harm America. Military stretched so thin as to even send Studebaker trucks to Iraq. Next step - the draft.