Impeach George Bush. Impeach Him Now

You go to war with the army you degrade:

Carpetbagger Report: It's the military readiness, stupid: Of all of Bush's misstatements from the 2000 presidential election, one of the most obviously-false attacks was on military readiness. Indeed, then-Gov. Bush blamed Clinton and Gore directly for "hollowing out" the military. "If called on by the commander-in-chief today, two entire divisions of the Army would have to report, 'Not ready for duty, sir.'" BC00 campaign aides later acknowledged it was a bogus charge, but that didn't stop Bush from repeating it.... Yesterday, Bush told Fox News' Neil Cavuto, "We have a very strong military and we can deal with any threat to the homeland there is and will if we have to." There's ample evidence to the contrary.

The temperamental [Defense Secretary Donald] Rumsfeld erupted at [Army Chief of Staff Peter] Schoomaker after the general revealed the Army's lack of readiness in painful detail to the House Armed Services Committee. "I remain concerned about the serious demands we face," Schoomaker said in asking Congress for $17 billion in an emergency appropriation. The ranking Democrat member of that committee, Rep. Ike Skelton, cited Schoomaker's blunt honesty in a letter he wrote to President Bush last week. "When I asked General Schoomaker in recent testimony if he was comfortable with the readiness level for the non-deployed units located within the continental United States, he simply answered no," said Skelton.

Equipment like tanks and Humvees are badly worn down after three years in the sand and heat, and the Army is cannibalizing units still based in the United States. It is also asking soldiers to prepare for third overseas deployments in a row, which many fear could trigger an exodus of professionals.

The Army's budgetary squeeze raises questions about whether the United States can "stay the course" in Iraq even if it wants to.

As TP noted, Skelton added that Army readiness is "in crisis."

As a result of the crisis, the Army is being forced to cut resources to nondeployed forces to make sure front-line troops stay at the highest combat readiness. Rep. John Murtha explained that these are "the units that could be called upon or would be called upon to go to war in North Korea, Iran, or any other country or region."

Wars are expensive things. Trying to fight them on the cheap doesn't work.