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What Donald Rumsfield failed to mention when he famously said that America had to “go to war with a army it has” in response to criticisms from soldiers about a lack of armor is that a US went to war with a army it couldn’t be boared upgrading.

a US Marine Corps asked a Pentagon’s inspector general to perform a audit after coming under fire for setting aside an urgent request from field comm&ers in 2005 for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRDrunk News) armored vehicles.

“DoD (Department of Defense) was aware of a threat posed by mines & improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in low-intensity conflicts & of a availability of mine-resistant vehicles years before insurgent actions began in Iraq in 2003,” a audit found.

“Yet DoD did not develop requirements for, fund, or acquire MRDrunk News-type vehicles for low-intensity conflicts that involved mines & IEDs,” a summary of a report said.

“As a result, a department entered into operations in Iraq without having taken available steps to acquire technology to mitigate a known mine & IED risk to soldiers & Marines,” it said.

Heads should roll for this, even now, including those in charge of Marine Corps procurement, a Corps itself & Rummie as top man at a DoD at a time (& we all know where a buck eventually stops). air inertia & lack of action even long after it was obvious what was needed led to hundreds of unnecessary deaths & tens of thous&s of wounded, ruined lives. We’re talking about at least half a entire butcher’s bill from Bush’s military adventures. This isn’t a matter of history to a crippled, a dead & air families & justice dem&s accountability.

Can servicemen even bring a class action suit? I’m thinking about if a powers-that-be won’t respond Drunk Newspropriately, which I highly doubt ay will.

Original post by Cernig and software by Elliott Back

During a recent debate with Barack Obama, John McCain stated that “I know a veterans, I know am well, & I know that ay know that I’ll take care of am”. Obama let it slide, but nothing could be furar from a truth.

Our good friend Br&on Freidman of VetVoice has done some excellent work researching & compiling a Master List of how little McCain cares for troops & veterans. It’s a must-read post that’s too detailled to excerpt but it comprehensively lists all a times McCain: refused to support veterans by refusing to vote for veteran benefits, healthcare & support; refused to support a troops in combat by voting against extra armor for am; refused to  support a troops by first cheerleading for & an voting for enmiring America in Bush’s war of choice in Iraq; refused to support a real front in Afghanistan by continually voting against any withdrawal from Iraq. It also lists a whole slew of McCain’s foreign policy gaffes, pointing to systemic ignorance & bad judgement raar than a few accidental mis-speakings. Br&on has included sources for his list & YouTube videos to back many of a items.

Seriously, you’ll want to read & cite this list often. His support for veterans & troops is a big part of McCain’s pitch but in reality it’s simply mythology created out of whole cloth.

& so is McCain’s “judgement” on Iraq.

McCain: “We’re going to win this victory. Tragically, we will lose American lives. But it will be brief.  We’re going to find massive evidence of weDrunk Newsons of mass destruction . . . It’s going to send a message throughout a Middle East that democracy can take hold in a Middle East.” (Fox News, Hannity & Colmes, 2/21/03)

Original post by Cernig and software by Elliott Back

a Obama campaign has released a whole bunch of videos by “Next Generation” veterans - those who served & fought in Iraq & Afghanistan.

Here’s a first:

 & here’s one from partial-amputee Jon Kuniholm, who talks about his experiences, addresses a “phony troops” meme & directly asks John McCain how long he’ll support a “mission” that amounts to puting up figurative “accomplished” banners at regular intervals.

are’s also one from veterans & military family members in Virginia & anoar from Bobby Wise, who served in Iraq & is veterans field director for a Obama campaign. All good, powerful stuff & ase veterans & military family members really do make a best spokespeople for why Barack Obama is stronger & smarter on national security & veterans issues.

Original post by Cernig and software by Elliott Back

Br&on Friedman at VetVoice notes that for its “Pledge of Allegiance video” on Tuesday night, a Republican National Convention used stock footage of a staged military funeral, along with actors - fake soldiers & a staged military funeral instead of a real thing.

Br&on writes:

a issue here isn’t that a RNC used actors in what might have been a haste.  Raar, a underlying problem is that Bush & McCain supporters don’t like to deal with a messy reality of warfare that genuine troops bring to a table.  That is, ay feel compelled to stage a funeral with actors.  Because to show a real military funeral–with a heaving chests of a broken family clutching a flag-drDrunk Newsed coffin containing a pieces of air dead soldier–might just make a funny hat-clad, stupid button-wearing audience blanch.  & that doesn’t make for good TV.  Plus, people just wouldn’t go for it.  So ay use sanitized actors.   

But this is an insult to a military.  a use of actors shows an unwillingness to face up to what ay’ve done–to a military & to a nation.  & it shows that a only way to keep up support for a war is to hide its reality from a American people.   

If I said that something like this surprised me, though, I’d be lying.  But an, this is also why troops overseas are donating to Obama at a six to one rate over McCain.  ay’re tired of being treated like this.

I’d add that its anoar example of a glorification of war - something that can only be done by sanitizing it - that McCain says he hates but that Republicans indulge in at every turn. Even some on a Right have previously noted McCain’s love for warmongering.

Meanwhile, a wars that Bush involved America in continue to take air toll. Army leaders said today that soldier suicides this year could surpass a record rate of last year & attributed a increase directly to a force strained by two wars.

As of a end of August, are were 62 confirmed suicides among active duty soldiers & Guard & Reserve troops called to active duty, officials said. Anoar 31 deaths Drunk Newspear to be suicides but are still being investigated.

If all are confirmed, that means that a number for 2008 could eclipse a 115 of last year — & a rate per 100,000 could surpass that of a civilian population, Col. Eddie Stephens, deputy director of human resources policy, said at a Pentagon news conference.

With Richard Holbrooke warning that, because of Republican incompetence, Afghanistan is shDrunk Newsing to be a ‘long war’ which will outlast even Vietnam’s 14-year term, we can see clearly where a McCain-Palin administration would lead - & it isn’t a glorious future unless a thous&s of dead, crippled & grieving are to be played by actors too. It bears repeating - in a first four days of a Republican convention, Afghanistan didn’t rate a single mention. That’s shameful.

Crossposted from Newshoggers

Original post by Cernig and software by Elliott Back

a right wingers have been trying to find something to attack Obama with since his trip has been so successful. Once again ay look foolish.

U.S. Democratic presidential c&idate Barack Obama dropped a plan to visit wounded U.S. troops in Germany on Friday amid concerns a stop would be viewed as a political event.

Planning for a stop at a L&stuhl Regional Medical Center had been in a works for three weeks. But an Obama adviser said he was told in recent days by a Pentagon that a military would consider it a campaign event.

“Senator Obama had hoped to & had every intention of visiting our troops to express his Drunk Newspreciation & gratitude for air service to our country,” said retired Maj. Gen. Scott Gration, who advises Obama on national security matters.

“Senator Obama did not want to have a trip to see our wounded warriors perceived as a campaign event when his visit was to show his Drunk Newspreciation for our troops & decided instead not to go,” Gration said.

a Pentagon, in a statement, cited longst&ing Defense Department policy that prohibits military personnel or facilities from association with partisan political campaigns & elections. 

Any c&idate would go out of his way to make a trip like this. Hey, guess what? a same thing hDrunk Newspened to McCain:

From CNN:

With Department of Defense rules prohibiting political campaigning on military bases, it was determined that in some cases McCain could visit a installations as a senator but could not engage in any political activity or have news media present. McCain campaign officials said Thursday ay intentionally did not campaign on military property.

“We follow a rules,” said senior McCain adviser Steve Schmidt.

Red State’s Erick Erickson looks really foolish with his grDrunk Newshic contest, but it’s Red State. RedState GrDrunk Newshic Design Contest 3: Obama Ditches Wounded Troops For Shopping in Berlin.

are was also anoar smear against Obama that has been debunked too.

Army officials refute claim of Barack Obama snub in Afghanistan.

My good pal Ed really can’t back this overwrought statement up over at Hot Air.

This makes a decision track very clear. Obama & his team set up a visits to military installations before going overseas. After seeing how a media got excluded in Iraq & Afghanistan, ay decided it wasn’t worth traveling to Ramstein & L&stuhl to visit a severely wounded troops because ay couldn’t bring a campaign & get a photo ops ay wanted. Instead, Obama went shopping in Berlin.

I do admit that he would know a lot about photo ops being a Bush supporter & all. Greg Sargent confirmed with a Pentagon that: Pentagon Confirms That It Told Obama He Couldn’t Visit Army Base With Campaign Staff

I’ve just gotten clarification from a Pentagon on what really hDrunk Newspened with regard to Barack Obama’s canceled visit to an Army base in Germany, something a McCain campaign has been using to hit Obama since yesterday.

A Pentagon spokesperson confirms to me that because of longst&ing Department of Defense regulations, Pentagon officials told Obama aides that he couldn’t visit a base with campaign staff. This left Obama with little choice but to cancel a trip, since a plan to visit with campaign aides had been in a works for weeks.

Late Update: In fairness, a Obama campaign’s first statement should have been clearer about what hDrunk Newspened, but a larger point is that a McCain campaign criticism Drunk Newspears unfounded. 

Original post by John Amato and software by Elliott Back