Cannon Fodder

The actual term is archaic; it first described those front line soldiers, in the time of linear warfare, who marched straight into cannon fire during an attack. Unfortunately the phrase has never been given the time to truly fall into disuse. And BushCo. have done their best to make sure it didn't go out of style in their time.

That most dangerous and feared weapon of the insurgents in Iraq and now, more and more, Afghanistan is the IED - Improvised Explosive Device. Those soldiers caught in the blast of such a device - the ones not killed outright - are left with broken or missing limbs and faces and with permanent, debilitating brain injuries.

But BushCo. has repeatedly said - about many things - "we couldn't have known!" And, after all, you have to go to war with the military you have, right? But every time they've uttered those words, it's turned out to be a lie. This time is no different.

The Pentagon "was aware of the threat posed by mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) … and of the availability of mine resistant vehicles years before insurgent actions began in Iraq in 2003," says the 72-page report, which was reviewed by USA TODAY.

[snip]

Marine Corps leaders "stopped processing" an urgent request in February 2005 for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles from combat commanders in Iraq's Anbar province after declaring that a more heavily armored version of existing Humvee vehicles was the "best available" option for protecting troops, the report says.

Why would Marine "leaders" stop processing such an urgent request from their comrades in the field? I've known lots of Marines and the only thing that would keep them from helping a fellow Marine is pressure from the top. Lots of pressure. Remember that BushCo. was still suffering under the delusion that they could prosecute two wars on the cheap and could "transform" the military into a lighter, more deployable force. I'm sure there was plenty of pressure to keep costs down and to keep materiel as light as possible. No matter the human cost.

Add this to the way-too-long list of stories you can tell your conservative friends who still believe the lie that Republicans "support the troops."

Nobody Saw This Coming...

The slow-motion devolution of Iraq has sped up to full-speed disintegration in Basra:

As British forces pull back from Basra in southern Iraq, Shiite militias there have escalated a violent battle against each other for political supremacy and control over oil resources, deepening concerns among some U.S. officials in Baghdad that elements of Iraq's Shiite-dominated national government will turn on one another once U.S. troops begin to draw down.

Basra was supposed to be the very picture of success with a homogeneous Shiite population and little outside influence. But this is what will happen all over Iraq - especially where the population is more heterogeneous - whether there are Western troops there or not. So if our Iraq misadventure is doomed to civil war regardless, why should our soldiers remain in harm's way?

This is a GREAT Idea

I'd like to meet the genius who thought this would be a good idea. I want to shake his hand. Then I'd pull his arm off and beat him to death with his own arm.

American officers acknowledge that it is arming some groups that are suspected to have been involved in American attacks as well as link to Al Qaeda.

Absolutely, f***ing brilliant.

Missing Arms and Missing Spines

A couple of weeks ago my wife and I went to visit my Alma Mater, West Point. She had never been and was excited to take in all the history and to learn a little bit more about such a formative place in my life. As always, going back there brought out mixed feelings in me; I still have dreams about not being prepared for something or another there. The feelings are a mixture of pride and apprehension along with a little longing to be back at school.

But something brought me up short in a way that nothing else could have. We were browsing through a very nice gift shop at the visitor's center when a couple of cadets walked by speaking with what looked to be a young officer, perhaps a graduate from a few years back. Nothing out of the ordinary for such a place, until the young man turned around and I saw that he had a prosthetic arm from the elbow down.

Obviously this young lieutenant had returned from a tour in Iraq having left a good portion of his body as well as his innocence on the Iraqi sands.

This incident had stayed in the back of my head ever since. Such a thing would not be unexpected at the place where future Army officers are trained and where so many of our nation's past warriors had studied. But when you see such violence done to someone so young (could I ever have been that young?) it brings into sharp focus the results of our tragic misadventure in the Middle East.

As for the missing spines in my post title, it's the Democrat's recent cave in on the war funding bills that brought the young lieutenant with the missing arm back into the forefront of my mind. It's absolutely true that they did not have the votes to override a Presidential veto. And it's absolutely true that funding - of some type and amount - needs to be approved.

But it's also absolutely true that Democrats were, in no small part, given control of the Congress last November precisely to rein in this administration and to start bringing the catastrophe that is Iraq to an end.

In this, they have failed us all miserably.

They have failed you and I, comfortably home but paying every day in national treasure and international influence. They have failed the families of the soldiers who must endure extended time away from their young loved ones, never knowing when the young officers in their dress uniforms will knock on their door. They have failed future generations, already saddled with the cost of this adventurism.

But most importantly, they have failed that young lieutenant who was trying so hard to convey that one bit of knowledge that might helps save those who will come after him.

Whatever else they may achieve, they have failed.