Administration rhetoric about military readiness — which is basically, “Don’t worry, everything’s fine” — looks increasingly ridiculous as the Pentagon’s back-door draft continues.
Amid Congressional concerns that the military is stretched too thin, the Army is preparing to take advantage of a rarely used wartime program that allows it to recall soldiers who have left the service and did not join the reserves. Pentagon officials said Tuesday that 5,600 former soldiers were going to be called up for yearlong tours, mostly assignments in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Bear in mind, this call-up is involuntary. The Individual Ready Reserve includes troops who have already retired and received honorable discharges. Now, the Pentagon is re-enlisting them.
Senator Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island and a chief proponent of more troops, issued a statement Tuesday that said: “This is another indication of the urgent need to increase the size of the Army. The administration’s assessment of the number of troops needed to occupy Iraq, fight the war on terror and maintain the nation’s military commitment around the world has been woefully inadequate.”
That’s true, but it’s also an indication that the Bush administration has been incapable of bringing in troops from other countries to help relieve the burden. All the while, the administration insists troop levels are fine and that its pre-war plans were more than adequate (denial is not just a river…). How long can Rumsfeld’s Pentagon remain committed to some fantasy about a streamlined fighting force?
The move comes, of course, the same month that the administration announced its ”stop-loss” program that prevents troops from leaving the military after their time is up.
Administration officials keep insisting that a draft is out of the question, but if thousands of troops are serving involuntarily, is there really much of a difference?
Kerry National Security Advisor Rand Beers had a good take on this.
“A few weeks ago, the Pentagon announced an expansion of the stop loss program, effectively forcing thousands of troops to extend their deployments. At the time, that move was called a back-door draft. Today that back-door swung wide open.
“The fact is that this involuntary call-up is a direct result of the Bush Administration’s diplomatic failure to get real international help in Iraq. The situation on the ground in Iraq calls for more than a token training force from NATO. We need combat ready troops from NATO to stand side by side our men and women on the front lines.”
Of course, given Bush’s popularity and diplomatic skills, that isn’t happening.
President Bush said Thursday that he did not expect NATO to provide troops to Iraq, abandoning hope for such help after partners in the alliance raised objections.
In a news conference ending the three-day Group of Eight meeting of industrialized nations, which Bush hosted in Sea Island, Ga., the president said his only hope for the military alliance would be for help in training Iraqi troops if the new interim government requests it. “I don’t expect more troops from NATO to be offered up,” he said. “That’s an unrealistic expectation. Nobody is suggesting that.”
Well, some of us are suggesting that…