Army's 547,000 Personnel Increase Not Enough Says Army Chief of Staff

    Gen. Peter Schoomacher ( Army Chief of Staff ) has told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the Army's increase of personnel to 547,000 troops over the next five years will not be enough to face future conflicts.

    He also thinks that the 55 percent reserves and 45 percent active duty personnel is out of whack and that he would like to see it at 60 percent active and 40 percent Reserve and Guard.  Source

    UPI

"I think the future is going to justify an even larger Army than what we are building," he said. "We have people in the department still talking about there is going to be a day when we don't need boots on the ground and I think that's ludicrous."

When the Cold War ended and the Army was drawn down, the active duty was cut more deeply than the Guard and Reserve, which had strong political constituencies protecting them on Capitol Hill.

"There is no military reason for where we are; it has to do with the politics," he said.

   So we are going to need all of these extra troops in the near future and we are going to get them from?  The Draft, maybe?

    I seriously doubt that you will find many people wanting to join the Army during a time of war, especially after the publicity surrounding the military hospitals and the treatment of the U.S. troops. Many young people will look at that as a good reason for not joining, and let's face it, we are going to be in some kind of a war for a very long time. At least until we elect some Democrats who can get along and come up with a way out of Iraq that they can agree on.

   So the only true option for the Army and the other services is to re-instate the draft which will not go over to well with the citizens of the United States.

 

Technorati tags: Gen. Peter Schoomacher, Chief of Staff, military, draft

 

Reid Resolution Fails In 48-50 Vote, Senate Will Subpoena DoJ Officials

Senate Resolution

By BarbinMD

on Iraq

No surprises here.  The Reid Resolution to require a troop withdrawal beginning in 120 days and with a completion goal of March 31, 2008, failed 48-50.  For those keeping score at home, those opposing were the 49 Republicans and Joe Lieberman.     Source

* * * *

    The Senate Judiciary Committee  voted to subpoena five officials from the Justice Department just in case Gonzales changes his mind about letting the officials testify on their own. They did postpone a vote on whether to subpoena Karl Rove,  William Kelley and Harriet Miers. Source

         * * * *

Bush, Gonzales Pushed To Shut Down Inquiry That Probably Would Have Targeted Gonzales

By Murray Waas

Shortly before Attorney General Alberto Gonzales advised President Bush last year on whether to shut down a Justice Department inquiry regarding the administration's warrantless domestic eavesdropping program, Gonzales learned that his own conduct would likely be a focus of the investigation, according to government records and interviews.

Bush personally intervened to sideline the Justice Department probe in April 2006 by taking the unusual step of denying investigators the security clearances necessary for their work.  Source

 

Technorati tags: Reid Resolution, Senate, Lieberman, Gonzales, Bush Administration