Survey of US military brass says US forces "stretched dangerously thin" by Iraq
Foreign Policy has conducted a survey of current and retired senior military officers, asking for their opinions on the current state of US forces. The results are disturbing.
First, a note about those surveyed:
In all, more than 3,400 officers holding the rank of major or lieutenant commander and above were surveyed from across the services, active duty and retired, general officers and field-grade officers. About 35 percent of the participants hailed from the Army, 33 percent from the Air Force, 23 percent from the Navy, and 8 percent from the Marine Corps. Several hundred are flag officers, elite generals and admirals who have served at the highest levels of command. Approximately one third are colonels or captains—officers commanding thousands of soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines—and 37 percent hold the rank of lieutenant colonel or commander. Eighty-one percent have more than 20 years of service in the military.
Almost 90% of those officers surveyed agreed with the statement, "The war in Iraq has stretched the US military dangerously thin." That's only slightly more disturbing than this:
More than 80 percent of the officers say that, given the stress of current deployments, it is unreasonable to ask the military to wage another major war today. Nor did the officers express high confidence in the military’s preparedness to do so. For instance, the officers said that the United States is not fully prepared to successfully execute such a mission against Iran or North Korea.
Among the reasons cited are Bush administration policies on the shortened time soldiers spend at home before redeployment back to Iraq or Afghanistan, the significant lowering of admissions standards, and the poor medical attention given to troops once they return home.
I think it's also important to note that a majority of those experienced, high-ranking officers in the survey agree with the statement, "Torture is never acceptable."
Although majorities of those surveyed believe morale is still high and that the surge in Iraq still stands a chance of success, three fourths believe that the goals set for the US military by Washington for post-Saddam Iraq were unreasonable.
The full report of the survey is in this PDF.
If the White House really did support the troops, they'd be listening to what the military brass are saying. Of course, that bumper sticker slogan is proven to be a lie simply by the fact that the White House remains willing to sacrifice American lives for an unprovoked war of choice, and for an occupation based not on necessity, but rather on incompetence and inertia.
The war in Iraq was won about three days into the fighting when Saddam's military collapsed. Ever since that time, it's been an occupation rather than a war, and it's time to bring that occupation to an end. Let's declare victory and bring our troops home to heal.