Is The U.S Army Broke?

[The Great US Army Is Broke.

An Important Story You Didn't See

I have no idea why this story was not on the front page of every newspaper and at the top of every newscast yesterday, but it wasn't. The story ran on only one front page, that I'm aware of. And that was on the paper that broke the story, the Wall Street Journal.

Whether you are among the growing majority of Americans that think Bush is doing an awful job, or a member of the shrinking minority of those that believe he's doing a the right thing, you have to be bowled by this story. Just when I think I can close the book on the breathtaking incompetence of this administration, hard facts like this cross my bow and I have to reconsider.

Yesterday the WSJ's defense correspondent, Gregg Jaffe, reported that US Army officials have told the White House they are broke. Worse than broke actually. The Army, despite its $168 billion budget, is out of money and being forced to cannibalize operations, here and in the war zone, just to keep the lights on.

Here is a link that will take you directly to the entire story.. source

Well,I can tell you this, when I was in the Army about a year ago, we were pretty skimpy on supplies... We had to cut way back on our MREs...It seems to me that the decline started with hurricane Katrina..

There was a massive cut back on a lot of things after the hurricane came through..

[edit on 13-12-2006 by SpeakerofTruth]

[edit on 13-12-2006 by DontTreadOnMe]

hey i guess sooner or later something like this had to happen. heck i guess with GWB as president we can just expect our money to keep going straight to the corporate giants, eh?

The entire government is broke! We have a fraudulant debt of $9 trillion dollars that has been forced upon us by the usurpers of our democracy, the federal reserve. The army being broke is simply a small part of an unbelievably immense problem.

Right now you have Ben Bernake and the gang from the Federal Reserve along with "all the presidents men" according to MSNBC financial channel over in China begging for handouts. They can't get any of the world Central Banks to lend the U.S. anymore money, no one wants to hold the U.S. dollar as a reserve currency anymore.
The U.S. in screwed, just imagine what the boys from the Federal Reserve are doing to America's future right now. Think of the treason!, Just think how they are selling you guys all out. Now you know why China's got you ports.
When are you guys gonna say ENOUGH! As soon as you Americans lunge at the corruption, the rest of the world will follow.

"Whether you are among the growing majority of Americans that think Bush is doing an awful job, or a member of the shrinking minority of those that believe he's doing a the right thing"

ummmm, thats pretty much the same thing...

and I'm not surprised by someone claiming their "broke"...what do you expect someone who wants more money to say.

The Army isn't broke, no military branch is.
Hopefully we will begin pulling out from Iraq in a couple years, once control of the country is in Iraqi hands. So far 3 provinces are completely under Iraqi control, the vast majority of the violence is coming from the insurgents in Baghdad using IED's...which is a problem that is very hard to deal with.

Bush has done an alright job in Iraq, and staying the course...and not listening to the left wing media...which hates to see America doing good, and loves & cheers for them to fail.

Originally posted by Murcielago
Bush has done an alright job in Iraq, and staying the course...and not listening to the left wing media...which hates to see America doing good, and loves & cheers for them to fail.

But you're advocating us staying in Iraq, which is creating unbearable burdens for our military. So actually, you are the one cheering for America to fall.

Its no longer rumor or secret. The military, particularly the U.S. Army and the U.S. Marine Corps are indeed stretched thin and this war has driven our military to the verge of financial and logistical crisis. Remember the Pentagon extending the deployment of the 172nd? Tinkering with the deployment schedules of actual, live, human soldiers is a sign of institutional crisis. Then there was the Army's chief-of-staff telling Congress that only 2/3rds of the U.S. Army is ready for forward deployment and combat operations. Really bad news.

So there's your left-wing media. The left-wing media is so inept, they didn't even report that our military is at its breaking point.

Originally posted by sweatmonicaIdo
But you're advocating us staying in Iraq, which is creating unbearable burdens for our military. So actually, you are the one cheering for America to fall.

yes, we should stay in Iraq until the job is done.

and its not unbearable...the army & marines are strectched a little thin.....but ya gotta do what gotta do.

Well,from my perspective,the U.S is going to be in Iraq at least another year. There are only three provinces out of the nineteen where problems are really emerging,despite the media slant that there is a widespread chaos.

I suspect that when these three provinces are finally as controlled as the other sixteen, then the U.S will pull out.

Originally posted by Murcielago
yes, we should stay in Iraq until the job is done.

The job of destabilizing the ME as much as possible?

and its not unbearable...the army & marines are strectched a little thin.....but ya gotta do what gotta do.

What exactly do they have to do in your opinion as it seems to be that their just trying to survive and 'man the perimeters' in general. The so called 'surge' is what is required to attempt to re-secure Baghdad and not much else.

www.house.gov...

Originally posted by Murcielago
ummmm, thats pretty much the same thing...

nd I'm not surprised by someone claiming their "broke"...what do you expect someone who wants more money to say.

Well if the Russian army claimed it one might be skeptical ( they have no federal dept they could not settle with cash on hand) but since the US federal government has been broke for so long why not consider it in this case?

The Army isn't broke, no military branch is.

I think you should talk the the soldiers who have to pay for their own equipment and body armor about that...

Hopefully we will begin pulling out from Iraq in a couple years, once control of the country is in Iraqi hands.

Iraqi militia already control most of the country and that wont change with the strategy that is being employed by US forces. The only real option is withdrawal as soon as possible as it's pretty widely admitted that the real reason for the civil unrest is the occupation itself. Iraq has no recent history ( many many decades) of sectarian violence.

So far 3 provinces are completely under Iraqi control, the vast majority of the violence is coming from the insurgents in Baghdad using IED's...which is a problem that is very hard to deal with.

The vast majority of the deaths are still being caused by air strikes and bombs aimed at American patrols.

Bush has done an alright job in Iraq,

A perfect job of laying waste to that country....

and staying the course...

You mean you believe the current course wil result in anything but much more of the same and that that is a good thing?

and not listening to the left wing media...

The US has no major left wing media outlets and the closest you guys get is right wing one's with the rest even further right.

which hates to see America doing good, and loves & cheers for them to fail.

America is not 'doing good' , unless cluster bombing is doing good in some twisted ' we are liberating you from life' kinda way, by any stretch of even the most twisted imagination and while i may not be shouting and cheering for them to fail I'm not going to encourage more useless slaughter( which is apparently what success is defined by in the neo-con globalist agenda) either.

The occupation has to stop but it wont and Iraqi's and American 'boys' will keep getting killed for nothing at all. One can only wonder how many gun towers and bunkers that one billion dollar embassy will have...

Stellar

Originally posted by StellarX
The job of destabilizing the ME as much as possible?

Were the ones trying to STABILIZE the Middle East, its Countries like Iran, Syria, Pakistan, that are wanting to take control of the world. Iran has said countless times that it wants to "wipe Israel off the face of the map".

I think you should talk the the soldiers who have to pay for their own equipment and body armor about that...

the left wing media was saying this a year or 2 back...they were reaching for straws then, and reaching for straws now. I know 2 people in the Army, and they haven’t had to spend their own money on things like bullet proof vests, boots, ammo, etc.

Iraqi militia already control most of the country and that wont change with the strategy that is being employed by US forces. The only real option is withdrawal as soon as possible as it's pretty widely admitted that the real reason for the civil unrest is the occupation itself. Iraq has no recent history ( many many decades) of sectarian violence.

Iraqi militia???
I assume you referring to terrorists...which is not the case at all, they do not have control over the country, not even close.
Withdraw...yeah good option, nothing like doing the cut-n-run. how bout you stand up for what you believe in?
And there is no "Civil Unrest", you have interpreted that by watching the news everyday...what do you think, that the mainstream media will show you a new school openings up in Iraq, or water pipelines, power plant? no, no, & no, they only cover the bad...about once a month they throw is a heart warming story just to keep you think there un-biased.
The terrorist want us to leave Iraq...the Left want us to leave Iraq.....I dont know about you, but I dont agree with terrorist.
...history of Violence...you must be kidding.
They have being rulled/opressed by the dictator/thug ,saddam. for many many decades, they had no freedom of speech...it was you speak, you get shot. Have you already forgotten all the mass grave we uncovered there?

The vast majority of the deaths are still being caused by air strikes and bombs aimed at American patrols.

air strikes??? No. The vast majority of deaths are by IED's...in which the cowards burry a bomb on a road and detonate is when a convoy is passing by. Or car bombs, in which they park there car next to an Iraqi market and detonate it. There goal is simply mass killings and to scare the US to leave the region, and to scare Iraqi's to not step up and take control of their country.
Iran is setting itself up to be the big middle eastern powerhouse, and if the US wins, and Iraq has a stable and capable government...that will drastically lower their chances of their dreams happening. In fact, there has being many findings from the US military of Iranian weapons and Iranian soldiers fighting the US. If you think the battle in Iraq is just about Iraq...your only kidding yourself.

The US has no major left wing media outlets and the closest you guys get is right wing one's with the rest even further right.

This quote alone tells me just how diluted you mind is.
There all left. (except for FOX)
CNN, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, ABC...and newspapers: Washington Times, Washington Post ,New York Times, etc.

America is not 'doing good' , unless cluster bombing is doing good in some twisted ' we are liberating you from life' kinda way, by any stretch of even the most twisted imagination and while i may not be shouting and cheering for them to fail I'm not going to encourage more useless slaughter.

Cluster Bombing...again...wrong!
At the beginning of the war even. we used small bombs, this has being the cleanest war EVER. Collateral damage is low, and we dont bomb things like churches (mosques), hospitals, schools, etc.
useless slaughter....please. Are troops pretty much have their hands tied behind their back, they are very restrained.
The US's point has being to turn Iraq into the Democracy...and its working, its a long hard road, but its happening. If we wanted to we could of eliminated the whole country, with nukes, or conventional weapons...but we didn't, and wont.

One can only wonder how many gun towers and bunkers that one billion dollar embassy will have...

I dont know, but hopefully a lot.

The casualities are mounting, 3k dead, 10k wounded and unable to return and billions down the toilet!

Where the heck is all the oil money to pay for this?????

Corporate Giants? Bankrupt?

No.

The IRS is not broke, and we are still accumulating debt with China and everyone else, so I doubt wether the military is broke, Army and everything else. Nothing is absolute and written in stone.

Originally posted by Murcielago
Were the ones trying to STABILIZE the Middle East,

I don't see how anyone who does any research can believe that. What action by the US or it's allies have in the last fifty years contributed to the stability of the ME? Feel free to indulge me as i have tried to find such without much result.

its Countries like Iran, Syria, Pakistan, that are wanting to take control of the world.

Your not serious i hope? How are they going to take control of the world? Pakistan can't move a muscle as India will exploit their every mistake and Iran had a very hard time dealing with the Iraqi invasion. As for Syria and the rest one wonders how they are going to take over the world when a few million Israeli's managed to show up their every failing.

Iran has said countless times that it wants to "wipe Israel off the face of the map".

The word 'map' was never used in the latest pronouncement by their current president and there was no reference to Israeli's being wiped out either. It's well know that the translation is a complete fabrication used for political ends as every scholar who is actually familiar with the language could readily tell you. As for the past i have every reason to believe the same type of trickery was involved but since i don't really think Israel has any legal right to their current holdings ( beside the obvious acumen at defending it against all comers which at the very least proves they really want it) i have no objection if this is pointed out by other world leaders. You are obviously free to show us the pronouncements made by Iranian presidents or Ayatollah Khomeini or any of the other 'Khomeini's' as as it would certainly be interesting to see how their words were twisted by the international press to suit US and British ME policy.

the left wing media

The US have no major ( i would say any but you will claim that some local broadcaster was somehow major) left wing media organizations as is obvious from any investigation of who owns them or sits on their boards of directors. This fantasy of the left wing press has to stop no matter how many times the entirely right wing media claims to be 'under attack' by the 'left'.

was saying this a year or 2 back...they were reaching for straws then, and reaching for straws now.

So we can at least agree that they media conspires against America despite our disagreement as to their intent?

I know 2 people in the Army, and they haven’t had to spend their own money on things like bullet proof vests, boots, ammo, etc.

I suppose this proves something in your belief system but what use is it to me? Last i checked there were more than two people taking part in the illegal US occupation of Iraq?

www.usatoday.com...

www.usatoday.com...

www.zogby.com...

www.globalsecurity.org...

www.foxnews.com...

So it seems pretty obvious to me that there are many soldiers who feel they need body armor and did not get it.

Iraqi militia???
I assume you referring to terrorists...

The continuing insurgent attacks have not turned U.S. troops against the Iraqi population, the survey shows. More than 80% said they did not hold a negative view of Iraqis because of those attacks. About two in five see the insurgency as being comprised of discontented Sunnis with very few non-Iraqi helpers. “There appears to be confusion on this,” Zogby said. But, he noted, less than a third think that if non-Iraqi terrorists could be prevented from crossing the border into Iraq, the insurgency would end. A majority of troops (53%) said the U.S. should double both the number of troops and bombing missions in order to control the insurgency.

www.zogby.com...

Maybe their opinion matters and maybe it does not. I don't see how targeting forces involved in a illegal occupation makes you a terrorist in anything but the eyes of the occupiers and there is certainly not good evidence that the car bombs are targeted at Iraqi civilians themselves. I don't know how you believe the Iraqi's should defend themselves in any other way but i will presume you never gave that much thought as you probably don't think they have any reason to defend themselves against a occupation force that have killed a hundred thousand or more.

which is not the case at all, they do not have control over the country, not even close.

Then maybe it's time for you to do some research. It is well known that helicopters must be used to transport important officials from Baghdad airport to the green zone as the 20 or 30 km journey is simply not safe. American forces are having a hard time guaranteeing the security of individuals in the capitol itself and one does not employ air bombardments if you have control over the countryside.

Withdraw...yeah good option, nothing like doing the cut-n-run.

Not being able to admit one's mistakes is certainly more cowardly unless your obviously not the one bleeding for your mistakes. It's easy to sit back in the US and talk about national pride and some such vapid nonsense when you are not getting shot at on a weekly basis.

how bout you stand up for what you believe in?

Which exactly why i oppose the illegal occupation and slaughtering of citizens of one country by another for obvious lies. I have no idea what you believe, that is in fact true, that could possibly lead you to believe in a justification for this murderous campaign against Iraqi's.

And there is no "Civil Unrest", you have interpreted that by watching the news everyday...what do you think, that the mainstream media will show you a new school openings up in Iraq, or water pipelines, power plant?

I said that Iraqi had no history of sectarian violence before the intervention of foreign powers which played the sides against each other. The water and power situation in Iraq is still worse than it was in 2003 and , as far as i know ,still worse than before the 1990 bombing campaign.

no, no, & no, they only cover the bad...about once a month they throw is a heart warming story just to keep you think there un-biased.

You have a real twisted view of twisted nature of news reporting about Iraqi. What they show you is no where near as bad as the reality on the ground and if you got the impression that those school openings means anything without security, electricity and running water your believing what you like instead of what actual intelligence and defense briefs would tell you. You are believing what parts of the media you like never releasing that it's set up so that no matter what you believe it is unlikely to correspond to the truth.

The terrorist want us to leave Iraq...

Which terrorist? No one seriously believes the Iraqi resistance is under foreign control or manned or supplied by foreign powers of fighters. That being said there is NOTHING the US could to by which anti-American terrorist organizations would gain more credibility and support than continue oppressing Iraqi's and killing women in children with air strikes.

Just read what the US army has to say about it if you don't want to believe me.

the Left want us to leave Iraq....

What left? America has nothing worth calling a left.

.I dont know about you, but I dont agree with terrorist.

This is about agreeing or disagreeing with observation and reality and nothing to do with ' terrorist'. The American state is by FAR the largest sponsor of terrorist on the planet and have been so for half a century. That is a quite well established fact once you do research...

...history of Violence...you must be kidding.

I'm not here to share my opinions on matters when the historic record speaks for itself.

They have being rulled/opressed by the dictator/thug ,saddam. for many many decades,

This is true and America did NOTHING to help the oppressed masses then as SH was their man at the time.Why not save Iraqi's before SH managed to get the machinery of oppression running so well? Why not help the resistance after the first gulf war who got annihilated after the CIA and others promised to come to their aid? Why not at least ground the Iraqi air force so that it could not be used against it's own people? Don't talk about oppression when the US does it better than most others.

they had no freedom of speech...it was you speak, you get shot.

Vapid nonsense. There is no place in the world were people does not have a measure of 'free speech' as long as you realise which topics are not up for discussion in too public places. If you don't know how a police state works do some research.SH was not a nice guy but far from the worse dictator the US have sponsored in recent history or even at this time.

Have you already forgotten all the mass grave we uncovered there?

Interestingly SH were prosecuted based on the deaths of a few dozen or hundreds as far as i know and one wonders why no mention was made of all the hundreds of thousands he supposedly killed. Just go do some research and you might find that while not someone to like he was no Hitler and the massive majority of Iraqi's had FAR FAR better standards of living then than they do now.

air strikes??? No. The vast majority of deaths are by IED's..

Not true as some research would quickly show.

www.onlinejournal.com...

Interpretation Making conservative assumptions, we think that about 100 000 excess deaths, or more have happened
since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Violence accounted for most of the excess deaths and air strikes from coalition forces
accounted for most violent deaths. We have shown that collection of public-health information is possible even
during periods of extreme violence. Our results need further verification and should lead to changes to reduce noncombatant
deaths from air strikes.

www.zmag.org...

And that was quite a long time ago.

.in which the cowards burry a bomb on a road and detonate is when a convoy is passing by.

To kill American or Iraqi troops as military reports makes quite clear. The media has a very different agenda but the army does not benefit by lying about such a issue in internal reports.

Or car bombs, in which they park there car next to an Iraqi market and detonate it.

Like the SAS and other special forces people they catch dressed up in Iraqi costumes with bombs in the boot? There is no evidence the Iraqi resistance are the market bombers and every indication it's Israeli/US/British special forces trying to demonize the resistance further or just get a civil war going.

usa.mediamonitors.net...

www.scoop.co.nz...

www.prisonplanet.com...

If you investigate the Britain's history in Ireland you will see that they were in control ( or simply staged) much of the terrorist bombings that so often 'derailed' peace negotiations. False flag operations is nothing new in Britain's foreign policy.

There goal is simply mass killings and to scare the US to leave the region,

They have not the power to 'mass kill' anyone or anything and there is no way they could possible scare the US into doing anything; they simply do not command that kind of weaponry or force levels.

and to scare Iraqi's to not step up and take control of their country.

Nonsense. Iraqi's are not in control of their country at this time and i don't understand how you think a few bombs will scare Iraqi's away from taking back their own government. The only people who can keep Iraqi's from control of their country is a occupation force numbering hundreds of thousands.

Iran is setting itself up to be the big middle eastern powerhouse,

It simply lacks the means to do that with Israel and the US so close by in Saudi-Arabia. This is just not a credible scenario and most certainly not a credible threat to US security.

and if the US wins, and Iraq has a stable and capable government..

Actually Iran has benefited no end from the US occupation as the US basically liberated the Shia from Hussein's Sunni regime and destroyed the Taliban which absolutely hated the Iranian government. All the US have done in the ME so far is to massive destablilize it and create conditions ever more favourable to the current Iranian rulers. Any truly democratic government in Iraq will form close ties with Iran as they historically used to. Even if paid there is very little the US could do more to increase the authority and strategic clout of the current Iranian 'supreme ruler'. Once again your views are based entirely on media illusions with no debt or context being provided that easily exposes the terrible situation US foreign policy is creating for long term security in the region.

.that will drastically lower their chances of their dreams happening.

Their dreams had a much better chance if the US would have never allowed and supported Hussein into power in Iraq.

In fact, there has being many findings from the US military of Iranian weapons and Iranian soldiers fighting the US. If you think the battle in Iraq is just about Iraq...your only kidding yourself.

If by many you mean a half a dozen instances then i guess you right but i can not imagine how you think this proves Iranian government involvement your kidding yourself. Tell me what a "Iranian weapon' is and name the authority who classified it as such. I am sure some Iranians crossed the border to come help their Shia compatriots ( Like catholics never help other catholics?) but i would love to see the proof that they were orders to do so or were active members of the Iranian army. There is NOTHING to gain for Iran by getting involved in this conflict even if they can not prevent each and every of their citizens in not becoming so.

This quote alone tells me just how diluted you mind is.
There all left. (except for FOX)
CNN, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, ABC...and newspapers: Washington Times, Washington Post ,New York Times, etc.

They almost all have republican board members or owners as i recall but your free to prove otherwise if you think that is not the truth. America has no major ( any of the ones you named) left wing media groupings and that's obvious by looking at standards in the rest of the world. I don't believe very many Americans have any idea what 'left' constitutes but it's easy to believe if the entirely right wing media keeps talking about the power of the left.

Cluster Bombing...again...wrong!
At the beginning of the war even. we used small bombs, this has being the cleanest war EVER.

Pffffft. Not like history books are good records of history but you wont find one that supports THAT particularly view. Feel free to google as even Fox reports on this.

www.usatoday.com...

observer.guardian.co.uk...

www.democracynow.org.../12/11/164256

hrw.org...

www.telegraph.co.uk.../news/2006/08/20/wmid320.xml

Collateral damage is low,

Hundreds of thousands dead and wounded is not low by my standards but maybe my standards are a bit more restrictive when it comes to mass murder and such issues. Against the genocidal campaign the US waged on Laos,Vietnam and Korea this is certainly a vast improvement but no less murderous in my opinion. Once again the the shining beacon of light that is fox reports on this.

and we dont bomb things like churches (mosques), hospitals, schools, etc.

Yes they do and it's very well documented. Truth will be revealed by the bringers of such over at FOX.........

useless slaughter....please. Are troops pretty much have their hands tied behind their back, they are very restrained.

And you have the audacity to call the American press 'left' when the European press routinely reports on American brutality? I suppose Europe is just anti-American since they report on a few more truths?

The US's point has being to turn Iraq into the Democracy...

Never was and there is no evidence showing it to be so.

and its working, its a long hard road, but its happening.

I could agree but it's in spite of the American attempts to undermine it and most certainly not due to efforts to build it.

If we wanted to we could of eliminated the whole country, with nukes, or conventional weapons...but we didn't, and wont.

Sure you could and the rest of the world thanks you for only choosing to kill and maim a few million ( the wars killed and maimed a few hundred thousand and the sanctions killed at least
half a million Iraqi's below the age of five to say nothing of the war with Iran or the slaughter the US allowed SH to conduct against Kurds and other dissidents) over the last two decades.

I dont know, but hopefully a lot.

And their going to need each and every one of them if they hope to stay around.

Stellar