US policy really does seem adrift. Over the past month we've been told we're close to being able to reduce troop levels, then that we're still in for a long haul, then that we'll be able to reduce troop levels soon, then we send 700 highly trained paratroopers to serve as prison guards, and now it appears that we'll have large numbers of troops in Iraq for at least four more years. CNN.com is reporting, "The U.S. Army is making plans to keep the current number of soldiers in Iraq -- well over 100,000 -- for four more years, the Army's top general said Saturday." Meanwhile, with all this flip flopping going on, Georgie is relaxing and getting away from it all. Too bad the rest of the world isn't taking August off along with Georgie.
Instead of spending time "working hard" on resolving the problems we're facing in Iraq, including the woeful state of recruiting for the army, Georgie went bike riding and took some naps. It's clear we don't have enough troops to do the job. The same CNN story noted that "the National Guard has seven combat brigades in Iraq -- the most of the entire war --
plus thousands of support troops." That sure sounds like a military stretched thin. What happens if N. Korea conducts a test launch of a nuclear capable missile? What happens if China decides to invade Taiwan? What happens if there's a major earthquake in California or a hurricane in southeast? George Bush has gotten us so bogged down in Iraq that there's no way we can respond in any effective way to any crisis.
