Too Many Troops? Too Few? Whatever…

Senators Kerry and Biden are said to be leaders of the sensible wing of the Democratic Party, the part of the party resisting calls for quick withdrawal.

If so, now would be a good time to get their act together. Here is Sen. Kerry, speaking yesterday:

“The large presence of American troops in Iraq gives credence to the notion of occupation and in fact delays the willingness and ability of Iraqi troops to stand up,” Kerry said on NBC’s “Today” show.

“Until the president really acknowledges that that large presence is part of the problem, and begins to set a benchmark process for transferring responsibility to the Iraqis, we’re going to continue with more of the same,” he said.

On “Meet The Press” last Sunday, however, Sen. Biden said, among other things:

Tim, I’ve been there five times. I reported on your show and others. I don’t know what they tell Rumsfeld, but flag officers, guys wearing stars, not one single time, including the last one, Memorial Day, and I’m going again in 12 days, have I not been told by flag officers that they did not have enough forces.

….

I’ve been calling for more troops for over two years, along with John McCain and others subsequent to my saying that. They may not be telling the secretary of defense, but let me tell you, on the ground–not young officers, flag officers, and everybody knows. We went with too few troops. We do not have enough troops from the beginning. We haven’t had them throughout.

It appears that the serious, sensible Democrats (unlike the Murthas, Pelosis, and Deans) have finally honed in on our problem in Iraq and narrowed it down to this: we have too many troops there … or too few.

Say What? (1)

  1. Cobra December 2, 2005 at 5:03 pm | | Reply

    Who said they have to be American troops? Where are the Iraqi troops that Rumsfeld says are in the “thousands?” Where is the “coalition of the willing?” Isn’t this supposed to be an “international effort?” During Desert Storm there were over 500,000 coalition troops in theatre, and they weren’t even tasked the job of occupation.

    Of course there is a need for more troops, because there is no stability or security in Iraq. The borders are a sieve. However, that neccessity doesn’t mitigate the fact that our own troops are stretched too thin and are deteriorating from over extention, lack of adequate supplies and insufficient planning.

    –Cobra

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