For the Record, Mr Bush. - Democratic Underground

Solly Mack

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Tue Apr-03-07 06:10 PM
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For the Record, Mr Bush.

Today during a Press briefing Bush said: "If Congress fails to act in the next few weeks, it will have significant consequences for our men and women in the Armed Forces."

He listed these "significant consequences":

1 - "the Army will be forced to consider cutting back on equipment,equipment repair,and quality of life initiatives for our Guard and reserve forces."

2 - "The Army also would be forced to consider curtailing some training for Guard and reserve units here at home. This would reduce their readiness and could delay their availability to mobilize for missions in Afghanistan and Iraq"

3 - "They will also have to consider delaying or curtailing the training of some active duty forces, reducing the availability of these forces to deploy overseas. If this happens, some of the forces now deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq may need to be extended because other units are not ready to take their places."

4 - "In a letter to Congress, Army Chief of Staff General Pete Schoomaker put it this way: "Without approval of the supplemental funds in April, we will be forced to take increasingly draconian measures, which will impact Army readiness and impose hardships on our soldiers and their families." "

Fact: The lack of equipment has been a constant problem in Afghanistan and Iraq from the very beginning. The level of readiness due to a lack of equipment and training has been a constant problem in both Iraq and Afghanistan from the very beginning. The National Guard and the Reserves have both gone without "quality of life initiatives", as well as a lack of equipment and training since the very beginning of Bush's wars. All the troops have faced a lack of health care - both for their physical and their mental needs. Pay issues have been a constant problem as well.

Corners Cut in Rush to Add Troops

"A survey conducted by the Defense Department Inspector General's Office last spring found that U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan lack sufficient armored vehicles, heavy weapons such as artillery or large machine guns, devices designed to jam signals used to detonate roadside bombs, and communications equipment. As a result, they are sometimes forced to put off operations while they wait for equipment, according to the classified report, a summary of which the Defense Department made public on Tuesday.

Instead of the newer, better-protected humvees, for example, the 1st Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division, based at Fort Stewart, Ga., will use the older version of heavily armored humvees left behind by the 1st Armor Division, said Lt. Col. Doug Crissman, commander of the brigade's 2-7 infantry battalion. Ortiz said such protracted use increases the wear and tear on the vehicles and makes them more likely to break down. More troubling, the armor on these older humvees is increasingly unable to withstand the blast of the ever-more powerful bombs employed by insurgents, say military experts."

Thousands of Army Humvees Lack Armor Upgrade

"U.S. Army units in Iraq and Afghanistan lack more than 4,000 of the latest Humvee armor kit, known as FRAG Kit 5, according to U.S. officials.

2006 - Inadequate Equipment, Health Problems Face Iraq, Afghanistan Veterans: Poll

"The poll by VoteVets.org, a political action committee made up of veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, showed that nearly half (42 percent) of all veterans who served in either country felt that their equipment did not meet military standards."

2005 - Marine units found to lack equipment

"Marine Corps units fighting in some of the most dangerous terrain in Iraq don't have enough weapons, communications gear, or properly outfitted vehicles, according to an investigation by the Marine Corps' inspector general provided to Congress yesterday."

2004 - Guardsmen's Families Protest Lack of Equipment

"The issue came into the media spotlight again last week, when a Tennessee guardsman in Kuwait asked Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld why soldiers have to pick through trash to create armor for their humvees. Rumsfeld's response, "You go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have." "

2004 - GIs Lack Armor, Radios, Bullets

"With a $400 billion defense budget you might think U.S. troops have everything they need to fight the war, but that's not always the case."

2003 - Stretched Thin, Lied to & Mistreated

"Added to such injury is insult: The military treats these soldiers like unwanted stepchildren. This unit's rifles are retooled hand-me-downs from Vietnam. They have inadequate radio gear, so they buy their own unencrypted Motorola walkie-talkies. The same goes for flashlights, knives and some components for night-vision sights. The low-performance Iraqi air-conditioners and fans, as well as the one satellite phone and payment cards shared by the whole company for calling home, were also purchased out of pocket from civilian suppliers.

Bottled water rations are kept to two liters a day. After that the guys drink from "water buffaloes"--big, hot chlorination tanks that turn the amoeba-infested dreck from the local taps into something like swimming-pool water. Mix this with powdered Gatorade and you can wash down a famously bad MRE (Meal Ready to Eat)."

SOTU: Bush Has Failed To Support The Troops

"The New York Times reported that a “secret Pentagon study has found that as many as 80 percent of the marines who have been killed in Iraq from wounds to the upper body could have survived if they had had extra body armor.” Body armor “has been available since 2003, but until recently the Pentagon has largely declined to supply it to troops despite calls from the field.” "

"The Penatgon is proposing to “triple some Tricare insurance costs for military retirees and their families.” “Increases would be substantial — as much as $1,200 more a year by 2009 — with no end in sight because the plan calls for annual rate hikes in 2010 and beyond that would match inflation.”"

"“US soldiers returning home from tours in Iraq, meanwhile are initially showing a higher incidence of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) than in other American conflicts. Around 317,000 veterans who received a primary or secondary diagnosis of PTSD were treated at medical centers” run by the Department of Veterans Affairs. “Experts say the sharp increase does not begin to factor in the potential impact of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.” The Bush administration has consistently underestimated the level of resources needed."

2003 - SDF to supply water to U.S. troops, citizens in Iraq

"U.S. soldiers are given two 1.5-liter bottles of water a day, but that is just barely the essential amount."

Memo: Halliburton failed to purify GIs’ water

"Halliburton Co. failed to protect the water supply it is paid to purify for U.S. soldiers throughout Iraq, in one instance missing contamination that could have caused “mass sickness or death,” an internal company report concluded."

2003 - Under Fire, Army Reserve and National Guard Troops Lack Body Armor

"Army Reserve and National Guard troops getting shot at in Iraq sometimes wait for new bulletproof body armor while active duty Army soldiers get it first, according to Reserve and Guard soldiers."

Army Units Forgo Desert Training

"Rushed by President Bush's decision to reinforce Baghdad with thousands more U.S. troops, two Army combat brigades are skipping their usual session at the Army's premier training range in California and instead are making final preparations at their home bases."

Army overhaul prompts new approach to training

"This fast turnaround gives its leaders barely more than a year to reconstitute equipment, retrain units that have experienced more than 60 percent turnover in personnel in some instances, and prepare to redeploy

The stresses imposed by war and change, along with the compressed training cycles dictated by repeated combat deployments with minimal downtime, have fundamentally altered Army training doctrine."

National Guard Dealing with Equipment Shortages

"That's because up to 40 percent of the Guard's equipment is in Iraq. According to the National Guard Bureau, that leaves 88 percent of the force here poorly equipped.

The Army has set aside $21 billion over the next four years for new equipment, but much of that could also wind up going to Iraq as part of the (Bush's) surge."

Field rations letting U.S. troops down

"When Lt. Dave Moore visited infantry units in the remote, rugged mountains of Afghanistan late last year, the Navy medical officer was surprised to hear from many soldiers and Marines that they had lost significant weight.

After conducting more than 150 interviews with medics, officers and troops on the ground, Moore concluded that the portable rations called "Meals, Ready-to-Eat"--long derided by troops, but valued by the Pentagon for their indestructibility--were not doing the job, causing the soldiers to shed pounds that they very much needed."

Military Mental Health Care Under Scrutiny

"Army generals are scrambling to apologize for the scandal over poor medical care and deplorable conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. But the evidence shows that the problems extend beyond the Army's flagship hospital.

Late last year, for instance, an NPR investigation found that many soldiers who returned from Iraq to Fort Carson, in Colorado, couldn't get the mental health care they needed — even when they had post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. In fact, their supervisors punished them and kicked them out of the Army"

Soldiers Face Neglect, Frustration At Army's Top Medical Facility

"Behind the door of Army Spec. Jeremy Duncan's room, part of the wall is torn and hangs in the air, weighted down with black mold. When the wounded combat engineer stands in his shower and looks up, he can see the bathtub on the floor above through a rotted hole. The entire building, constructed between the world wars, often smells like greasy carry-out. Signs of neglect are everywhere: mouse droppings, belly-up cockroaches, stained carpets, cheap mattresses.

This is the world of Building 18, not the kind of place where Duncan expected to recover when he was evacuated to Walter Reed Army Medical Center from Iraq last February with a broken neck and a shredded left ear, nearly dead from blood loss. But the old lodge, just outside the gates of the hospital and five miles up the road from the White House, has housed hundreds of maimed soldiers recuperating from injuries suffered in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Walter Reed patients told to keep quiet

"They were also told they would be moving out of Building 18 to Building 14 within the next couple of weeks. Building 14 is a barracks that houses the administrative offices for the Medical Hold Unit and was renovated in 2006. It’s also located on the Walter Reed Campus, where reporters must be escorted by public affairs personnel. Building 18 is located just off campus and is easy to access"

The above examples are just a small sampling of the neglect and abuse the troops have endured.

For the record, Mr. Bush, exactly when have the troops ever been fully funded for your wars of choice?

You support the troops?

When exactly?