Is This What They Wanted?

Mission Accomplished: How Bush and Republicans Destroyed the Military

A. Alexander, August 23rd, 2006
When the military wasn't able to reach its recruiting goals the Bush administration did what it always does: adjust numbers to make them look good politically. When the reign of Bush the Second is over, the American people can count on government auditors discovering ENRON-like accounting "errors" in everything from the deficit to the unemployment rate to, more than likely, the number of soldiers who have died in the administration's various wars. All -- and people can bet the mortgage on this -- will have been duly altered to make Bush and Republicans look good. They've done the same thing with military recruiting. They couldn't reach the goals required to actually keep the military functioning, so they lowered the bar to make it look good politically.

Unlike fudging budget numbers; however, when recruiting goals are manipulated for political purposes the military still needs warm bodies to lace up boots, strap on packs, and carry rifles. And, when they can't fill the positions because there aren't enough people, things start to go FUBAR (Fu..ed Up Beyond All Recognition) in a hurry. Should any person either Republican, Democrat or whatever he or she is calling his or herself today -- eh-hem, Mister Lieberman -- not believe the U.S. military is suffering terribly because of this quaint little Bush administration military recruiting accounting gimmick, they aren't dealing in reality.

Reality after all, isn't exactly today's Bush administration or Neo-Con-Crazy Republican Party's strong suit. They live in and project a fantasy-based world wherein they are in control, masters of the universe, strong on national security, and pretend they preside over a military that is something more than the Wizard hiding behind the curtain. In reality; however, today's Bush administration and Republican Party are masters of only a few things: greed, incompetence, altering reality, doling out taxpayer-funded largesse to their pals, and media-projected mind control. If people are looking for concrete results and success from this gang of corporate-sponsored thieves, they are as screwed as the United States Military and the 28 million tortured souls living in Iraq.

The administration and Republican Party didn't want the media to continue reporting on the fact that they couldn't recruit enough people to fill the military's ranks, so they lowered the recruiting goals. When that didn't work, they lowered them again. When that didn't work, they raised the eligible age for recruits. When that didn't work, they again raised the age limit for recruits and reduced the recruiting goal. Finally, that worked...on paper. As usual, they created a political success to gloss over one more self-inflicted failure.

The problem with this particular political charade is that there is no political substitute for warm bodies lacing up boots, strapping on packs, and carrying rifles. Not even Rove can spin soldiers out of thin air. What made the administration and Republicans look good on paper didn't do a thing to put cannon fodder on the battlefield. Now, they really screwed up!

"Wait a minute you left-wing, America hating, pinko-commie, terrorist sympathizing, blame America first lowlife; you can't prove that is what the regime...err...the administration and the Republican Party have done!"

It doesn't exactly require a rocket scientist to figure out just how close the military is to a complete meltdown (pay attention mainstream press and feckless Democratic Leadership Council). In order to put feet in empty boots, the Army has had to recall more than 14,000 inactive reserves (people who had served the active duty portion of their service contract and have been living civilian lives) and the Marine Corps has been cleared to call up to 2,500 inactive reserves at any one time...with no limit on the number they can recall in the future.

Unlike the active duty Army, the Marine Corps is a small force of about 200,000 people on full-time and active-duty reserve status. At this moment, the Marines need 1,200 bodies to fill positions in units about to deploy. To put that into perspective, that is nearly one-and-one-half combat ready battalions. That is nearly half of an entire combat regiment!

As usual, like they do with other government figures, the Bush regime and Republican Party have managed to score a political victory by gerrymandering military recruitment numbers. The problem is, this time, the so-called national security geniuses have virtually destroyed the United States military and there is no way to hide that! Eventually, someone must actually lace up the boots, strap on the pack, and carry the rifle into battle. And the fact is that the administration and Republican Party are running out of warm bodies to fight their wars. That means, for the dim bulb Republican apologists, the military can't keep the American people safe or defend the nation. That is, of course, unless Bush and Rove can figure out how to make political spin salute, march around in boots, and fire a weapon.

Original article posted here.