A Quagmire by Any Other Name

A significant division of the army is "rapidly degenerating into a broken force." If called upon, several divisions would have to report, "not ready for duty" (a condition, by the way, finally made a reality by George W. Bush several years after he falsely accused Democrats of having caused it). Paid mercenaries replacing brave volunteer citizen-soldiers.

What is going on here? Does this sound like a victorious nation about to magnanimously bestow the gifts of freedom and democracy on the vanquished? Or does this sounds like ... Dare we say it? ... a quagmire?

In a written warning to the Pentagon, the commander of the U.S. Army Reserve cited Army and Pentagon officials' refusal to deal with "dysfunctional" personnel policies for causing "the Army Reserve's inability ... to meet mission requirements associated with Operation Iraqi Freedom (Bush's War on Iraq) and Enduring Freedom (Bush's War on Afghanistan) and to reset and regenerate its forces for follow-on and future missions."

But it gets worse. George W. Bush's bungling of his War on Terror is actually undermining Homeland Security.

While that alone "is of great importance", the memo said, the Reserves are "in grave danger of being unable to meet other operational requirements", including emergency needs in the U.S. and abroad.

And, perhaps worst of all, the Bush administration's Orwellian policies of deploying reserves for indefinite periods of time and into situations never before imagined is converting the U.S. Army into a mercenary force.

Citing the Bush administration's plan to pay cash bonuses to those who re-enlist, he said, "We must consider the point at which we confuse 'volunteer to become an American soldier' with 'mercenary'. Use of pay to induce 'volunteerism' will cause the expectation of always receiving such financial incentives in future conflicts."



Sydney Morning Herald (AU) - U.S. Army Reserves a 'Broken Force' According to Top General