I read about the death of another US soldier on the web today, the same day that Bush crows about supporting the troops and Petraeus reports to Congress.
It shocked me just how base these platitudes are: the author details the complete lack of respect for those very troops in Iraq, and I think it will amaze you, too. Bush 'supports the troops' like Saddam Hussein was a revered father-figure.
http://www.canada.com/...
The article beings by talking about 30-year old Sgt. Lee Christian Wilson being a foreign citizen serving under the US military in Iraq, and details supply problems, uniform problems, and redeployment tricks.
Wilson sometimes called home to ask his parents for help to get around severe supply shortages in Iraq.
"We sent him uniforms, boots, socks, undies, ammunition, warm-weather clothing, cold-weather clothing, Kevlar vests," said Wilson's father, still angry soldiers were sent to war so ill equipped.
"When they wore out, he phoned up and said, 'Can you go to Fort Bragg and buy me some uniforms?' We had to buy his damned uniform. When his boots wore out, we had to go down and put out 60 bucks a pair for boots."
During his first six weeks in Iraq, Wilson and members of his platoon slept under, or on, his Humvee. He fought in some of the most difficult battles of the war and was rarely far from the front lines.
"This last time, Christian was quite apprehensive about going back," his father said. Expecting to serve a final 12 months, Wilson arrived back in Iraq and "immediately after his boots hit the ground" was told his tour had been extended to 15 months.
http://www.nytimes.com/...
To echo Paul Krugman's thoughts on this (albeit his focused on FEMA, five days after Katrina), that the richest country in the world has voluntarily become a 'can't-do' government is almost unbelievable.
"The corps," an Editor and Publisher article says, citing a series of articles in The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, "never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security - coming at the same time as federal tax cuts - was the reason for the strain."