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U.S. military won't be able to quickly and fully respond to yet another crisis

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Gen. Pace: Military capability eroding

WASHINGTON
(AP) — Strained by the demands of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,
there is a significant risk that the U.S. military won’t be able to
quickly and fully respond to yet another crisis, according to a new
report to Congress.

The assessment, done by
the nation’s top military officer, Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, represents a worsening from a year ago, when
that risk was rated as moderate.

The report
is classified, but on Monday senior defense officials, speaking on
condition on anonymity, confirmed the decline in overall military
readiness. And a report that accompanied Pace’s review concluded that
while the Pentagon is working to improve its warfighting abilities, it
“may take several years to reduce risk to acceptable levels.”

Pace’s
report comes as the U.S. is increasing its forces in Iraq to quell
escalating violence in Baghdad. And top military officials have
consistently acknowledged that the repeated and lengthy deployments are
straining the Army, Marine Corps and reserve forces and taking a heavy
toll on critical warfighting equipment.

The
review grades the military’s ability to meet the demands of the
nation’s military strategy — which would include fighting the
wars as well as being able to respond to any potential outbreaks in
places such as North Korea, Iran, Lebanon, Cuba or China.

The
latest review by Pace covers the military’s status during 2006, but the
readiness level has seesawed back and forth during the Iraq war.
Officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because the risk levels
are classified, said the risk for 2005 was moderate, but it was
assessed as significant in 2004.

His
assessment was submitted to Defense Secretary Robert Gates at the
beginning of this year, and therefore does not reflect the latest move
to pour 21,500 more troops into Iraq over the next few months.

Gates
delivered Pace’s assessment to Congress, along with a six-page report
on steps the Pentagon is taking to address the problem —
including new efforts to increase the size of the Army and Marine
Corps, and requests for more money to repair and replace equipment. On
Monday, the Pentagon released most of Gates’ report, except for a few
sections that were classified as secret.

That
report concluded that “world events and regional trends add up to
increased challenges to our nation’s security.” And it said the decline
in readiness is also affected by whether other federal agencies and
other nations are fulfilling their commitments.

There
have been long-standing complaints that the State Department has not
met its responsibilities in Iraq, particularly in reconstruction and
rebuilding efforts, as well as buttressing the political development of
the Iraqi government.

In his report, Gates
also discussed efforts to repair and replace equipment worn out in
combat, beef up recruiting and retention, and make better use of the
National Guard and reserve forces. It also details how the Pentagon
will use billions of dollars in the proposed budget, including plans to
modernize aircraft and weapons, develop better detection and
countermeasures for weapons of mass destruction, increase the size of
the special operations forces, and boost the nation’s missile defense.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press

 

Giuliani makes fun of a man with Parkinson’s

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Rudy Giuliani makes fun of a man with Parkinson’s during radio call in…
John Amato

rudygiuliani-radio.jpgjohnhynes.jpg The importance of this video clip comes from Rudy’s attacks on Welfare and the poor when he was mayor: “Judge Delays Giuliani Plan On Welfare”

Ruling that the Giuliani administration had overlooked
the ”urgent needs” of the poor in its zeal to overhaul welfare, a
Federal judge barred city officials yesterday from expanding their
tough new welfare policies until they can guarantee prompt access to
food stamps and Medicaid applications…read on

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The video comes from the movie ” Giuliani Time.”
John Bynes, who called in and complained to Giuliani because he needed
food stamps and medication to live at a time when Rudy’s policies were
having dire consequences to people like John. Rudy just laughs him
off…UP: Did Rudy know about John’s condition? Probaby not, but
he knew what was happening to people just like John who got caught up
in the cross-hairs of his policies…

Washington Post

“When “Giuliani Time” gives a glimpse of this Giuliani,
it’s mesmerizing. So, the smiling mayor fields a phone call during his
weekly radio show. The caller is angry about city cuts to food stamps
and Medicare aid for the disabled. Hizzoner is a pit bull to the chase.
“Hey, John,” Giuliani
tells his caller, “what kind of hole are you in? There’s something
that’s really wrong with you. . . . We’ll send you psychiatric help
because you really need it.”
As it happens, the caller, John Hynes, needs real help. A disabled
lawyer, he suffers from Parkinson’s disease, and he’s had his benefits
cut off and he’s running out of medicine.
Nothing chills the blood so thoroughly as the sight of a powerful man turned gleeful bully.”

The more time there is, Rudy’s record will be known and he won’t be the white knight of the GOP. (Big h/t to Arlen of the Daily Back Ground)

"He's an entertainer. … I'm a journalist who provides a program that is entertaining."

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video_wmv Download (35) | Play (38)   video_mov Download (21) | Play (25) 

Some highlights from the transcript at CBS.com:

What does he think of talk show host Rush Limbaugh?

“I respect Limbaugh for basically making a success out of
himself and putting on an entertaining program. But he’s not a primary
source of information, or shouldn’t be,” says O’Reilly. “He’s an entertainer. … I’m a journalist who provides a program that is entertaining.”

[…] 

“I’ll never win any awards for stuff I’m
doing now,” says O’Reilly. “Because the intelligentsia who distributes
the awards thinks that I’m misguided. I’m a barbarian. I am a Hun.”

Does it bother him?

“No, I love it,” says O’Reilly. “I love to be the outsider.”

Making Martial Law Easier

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Making Martial Law Easier – New York Times:

A disturbing recent phenomenon in Washington is that laws that strike to the heart of American democracy have been passed in the dead of night. So it was with a provision quietly tucked into the enormous defense budget bill at the Bush administration’s behest that makes it easier for a president to override local control of law enforcement and declare martial law. The provision, signed into law in October, weakens two obscure but important bulwarks of liberty. One is the doctrine that bars military forces, including a federalized National Guard, from engaging in law enforcement. Called posse comitatus, it was enshrined in law after the Civil War to preserve the line between civil government and the military. The other is the Insurrection Act of 1807, which provides the major exemptions to posse comitatus. It essentially limits a president’s use of the military in law enforcement to putting down lawlessness, insurrection and rebellion, where a state is violating federal law or depriving people of constitutional rights. The newly enacted provisions upset this careful balance. They shift the focus from making sure that federal laws are enforced to restoring public order. Beyond cases of actual insurrection, the president may now use military troops as a domestic police force in response to a natural disaster, a disease outbreak, terrorist attack or to any “other condition.” Changes of this magnitude should be made only after a thorough public airing. But these new presidential powers were slipped into the law without hearings or public debate. The president made no mention of the changes when he signed the measure, and neither the White House nor Congress consulted in advance with the nation’s governors. There is a bipartisan bill, introduced by Senators Patrick Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, and Christopher Bond, Republican of Missouri, and backed unanimously by the nation’s governors, that would repeal the stealthy revisions. Congress should pass it. If changes of this kind are proposed in the future, they must get a full and open debate.