Army Will Face Dip in Readiness

[stevedeshazer]

4 Divisions Need to Regroup After Iraq

<snip>
Once those divisions return from Iraq, Army readiness will be at its lowest point since the end of the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Since then, Army officials have tried to keep divisions at the highest, C-1 readiness level.

This dip in readiness could have political consequences for President Bush, who sharply criticized the Clinton administration during the 2000 campaign for allowing two Army divisions to fall to the lowest readiness category in 1999 because of peacekeeping obligations in the Balkans.

"Obviously, this is much worse in terms of the numbers," said Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee who has called for increasing the size of the Army. "This is an indication of the stress the Army is under."

With all of the Democratic presidential candidates criticizing Bush's handling of the war in Iraq and his overall stewardship of foreign policy, the strategic implications of the Army's low readiness rates could also become an issue in the campaign.

more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40059-2003Dec5.html

[jayfish]

1. Does Anyone Remember This Classic?

-SNIP-
"Our military is low on parts, pay and morale.

If called on by the commander-in-chief today, two entire divisions of
the Army would have to report ... Not ready for duty, sir. "
-SNIP-

Yup, that was none other that our protector for the new millennium, George Dubya Bushit, from his less than brilliant acceptance speech at the 2000 Republican National Convention.



Of course this was the real story.

-SNIP-
The U.S. Army said Friday that Bush was wrong when he said in his speech Thursday night to the Republican National Convention that two of the Army's 10 divisions were not ready to fight.
-SNIP-

-SNIP-
According to the Pentagon, the rating did not reflect the combat-readiness of the divisions, but the fact that they were already deployed and therefore could not be counted in the "first-to-deploy" units the Pentagon might send to fight two major wars simultaneously.
-SNIP-

Story


Jay

[shockingelk]

2. repeating a lie

This dip in readiness could have political consequences for President Bush, who sharply criticized the Clinton administration during the 2000 campaign for allowing two Army divisions to fall to the lowest readiness category in 1999 because of peacekeeping obligations in the Balkans.

This was a fabrication in Bush's acceptance speech for the R nomination. Those divisions were ready.

[ClintonTyree]

3. However..............

he'll get a pass from the press on this. All he'll have to do is invoke "the war on terror" catchall phrase and all will be forgotten. We are a country of intellectually lazy sheep and they won't believe a word of it.

[grasswire]

5. somebody was grilling this the other night

I think it must have been on Crossfire. Yep. I think it was Carville.

[Ellen Forradalom]

4. The Army is facing a dip, all right

and his name is Bush.