they must be giving comfort to the enemy....

...cause they're sure not giving it to our side.

i can't escape the feeling that despite all of the families' grief, our military deaths mean little more to the president than the quarterly profit losses he grew used to hearing about in every business he ran into the ground. and like in those businesses, ultimately the loss is someone else's problem.

i think that anytime i post about the military i will start with that quote (pardon the self-quoting) because the mound of evidence supporting it is growing weekly. the gall of this administration somehow still continues to surprise me. if their actions were fiction i would say it was too over the top to be believable. god i wish they were a fiction.

it's bad enough that haliburton got no-bid contracts and keeps over-charging us for billions, but then to give the troops contaminated water is unbelievable. is it really too much to ask that our vice-presidential crony war-profiteerers at least be competent? in the face of situations like this is it any wonder that i get migraines every time i hear all of the support the troop rhetoric? when the basic life-saving mechanisms are insecure for the troops-- armor, food, water-- retention will continue to be an issue. i get the feeling that bunnatine greenhouse will be vindicated, eventually enjoying the suffering of halliburton execs.

the disrespect for our troops is actually much more systematic and widespread than this incident illustrates. another example from the army times (tip think progress)

“This is wrong on so many levels,” said Steve Strobridge, government relations director for the Military Officers Association of America.

“In the middle of a war, with troops and families vastly overstressed, recruiting already in the toilet, and retention at risk, the Defense Department wants to pay for weapons by cutting manpower and trying to cut career military benefits by $1,000 a year or more? That’s just flat unconscionable. Not only is it grossly unfair to the people, but it poses terrible risks for long-term retention and readiness.”

the unconscionable in this case is the pentagon's desire to triple the pentagon health insurance program costs. tax cuts for the wealthy increased health costs for the military (and the elderly).

the most blatant disrespect shown our troops is the whole stay the course plan. former defense sec. william perry released a study recently, as did the pentagon, detailing the dangers of our army breaking. rumsfeld's response:

It’s interesting — I haven’t read the report. I’ll have to do that. Yeah, I mean, these are the people, basically — who did that report — who were here in the ’90s. And what we’re doing is trying to adjust what was left us to fit the 21st century.
(think progress)

perhaps putting the armed services in the hands of someone who has a clue and actually gives a damn will help with retention, or at least not leave the military completely broken when this administration finally goes to jail.