Bill Clinton

Well, as far as the politicizing goes, the most recent example is the ousting of Gen Peter Pace from the Joint Chiefs. Yes, he's coming up on the end of his first two-year term, but it was recommended that he not come back for another go-around because there was the notion that the confirmation hearings would concentrate solely on his last six years (he was Vice-Chair in beginning of the war), rather than on his plans for the next two. Not to mention that he's been known to speak his mind and go against the grain, rather than being the proverbial "yes man" that Congress would prefer be in that position so they have control. A very bad move, in my opinion, but hey, let's let the big boys up on the Hill with zero military experience and expertise run things...

As for the military ranks - and this could be influenced by those in Congress - there is some disappointment going around my community in particular because of our rules of engagement in certain areas of Iraq. A recent article in the Marine Corps Gazette discussed how our use of Operational Risk Management (ORM), the saftey tool we use to make decisions that maximize safety and minimize risk can, at times, hamper our ability to support the troops on the ground with fire from above.

Basically, this ORM tool has depicted certain areas of Iraq based on their threat level, which basically requires us to get the permission from a Commanding General to fly into the most dangerous zone. Safety is key, but sometimes you have to throw that out the window when the grunts are in a bind and need you to swoop in with some Hellfires to take out the enemy. So instead of our Hueys and Cobras being able to drop below the hard deck to support the grunts, we have to call in Army Apaches to do the job for us. Now, that's not to say that they aren't capable. However, our Light Attack helicopter squadrons have developed specific tactics, techniques, and procedures to perform in such dangerous areas and we've mastered them - the Army had not done so previously. A specific example is that during a 7 month deployment, one Marine squadron suffered four battle damaged aircraft during that period; the Army Apache battalion suffered four battle damaged aircraft in less than a month. Since then, they started flying like Marines and lo and behold, no damage to their aircraft.

That is just one example of many, but a frustrating one. We train for months and months to get ready to go to Iraq, then we get there and are at times hamstrung because of these so-called rules. In my opinion, if I'm the only aircraft on station that is capable of firing a few rockets so that those 20 year old warriors on the ground can make it out of there alive, I'll gladly risk my wings (and life, if necessary) over the most dangerous and expensive weapon we have in our arsenal - the Marine Rifleman. Mission accomplishment is ALWAYS our number one objective.

Now, I'm not running things and I don't want to necessarily sit here and sound like I'm just bitching. But there are many in my community who feel the same way. If we're going to spend all this time and effort away from our families training for war, you may as well let us rely on that training when the stuff hits the fan, otherwise, what's the point?

 

You think we would've learned something from Vietnam?
This is a shame and an outrage!

You either go to war and give it all you have to win or you lose.
A lot of us conservatives have been very unhappy with the status quo, we should've kicked ass and left Iraq already!
Politics is the root of all evil.

I now laugh when people blame religion for wars with two exceptions.
1) Islam extremists
2) political wars

 

One particular instance was the press conference where he talked about his views on homosexuality and how he thought it was immoral. I disagree with your assertion that he was dropped because he acquiesed to the administration for four years. There were several instances (I cannot find exactly when, but I remember watching them) where he went against what Rumsfeld was saying during a press conference.

As for his being forced out, this article sums it up pretty well: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070615/us-iraq/. Basically, he was told he was done, but he refused to voluntarily step down and I support his justification for that 100%. I honestly believe that members of Congress were pissed that he wasn't going to play ball with them, so they wanted to get somebody who would. And I believe that because the culture of the Marine Corps is such that we don't make decisions to please others. We do it because it's the right thing to do and in the best interests of the mission and our Marines.

 

No, Gates initially wanted Pace to be renominated, but after realizing that the confirmation hearings would be drawn out and difficult to get through, he felt that it almost wasn't even worth the trouble of going through it, since the likelihood of Pace being confirmed again seemed slim. That's what I have read/heard at least. I believe the article I posted in a previous post discusses it.

 

And that sucks too because, as you've alluded to before, nothing's worse than a politician with no military training or experience trying to fight a war.

 

We didn't get it back, because it was used to retire a small part of the accumulated national debt, where we already spent more than we had. You were not due anything back, so it was not stolen.

The Congressional Budget Office accounting is consistent. The white house numbers under any admin may make rosey assumptions about the future course of things, but the historical record is consistent. Care to show any improper accounting on the history. The graphs macattack posted look proper to me.

Debt at the levels that Bush is running up should bother you.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070710/dollar.html?.v=3

When Clinton left office, 81 cents would buy a euro, not its $1.37, or it takes 70% more cents to buy a euro! That's astounding loss of purchasing power in 6.5 years!!! If we took a $30 barrel of oil in 2000, and added 70% to its cost, or $21, that brings us up to $51 a barrel, just of the declines in the value of the dollar over that period. Add the demand increase from India and China, and you get from $51 to $71, but just as much of the price increase in oil, our major import, is due to financial mismanagement by Bush and the repub congress since 2000. The value of the dollar impacts us every day, any time we travel outside the US, or buy any imported item. China is criticized for pegging the yuan to the US dollar, so as the dollar weakens, no competitive advantage is gained against the Chinese. But this huge increase in the cost of a barrel of oil is taking its toll on our consumers. Sears, Kmart and Home Depot all preannounced misses recently.

The value of the dollar is driven lower when the budget deficits reach dangerous levels. See the Brazil crisis a few years ago. It is expected the money supply will grow, but it should grow in approximation to the growth is GDP. Our's is growing much faster than the GDP, and the foreign investors see that, and they are demanding more dollars for their products since we are just printing them out of thin air. That is why gold has gone up in price. You can't create it out of thin air, you have to work to produce it.

Raising interest rates can create demand for our debt, as it is more attractive when it pays more, but even that has limits beyond a short term affect. If rates are 1% higher, but inflation goes up 2%, in real terms, it is a bad deal. Inflation is a killer, and what counts are 'real interest rates', or the nominal rate minus inflation.

The high energy prices, about half of which appears due to the fall in the value of the dollar, caused by the high deficit, acts just like a TAX on the people, putting a drag on the economy. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Instead of taxing us directly, Bush has chosen to dupe the public, give a tax cut that primarily went to the rich, and devalue the currency, causing everyday items to go up in price, which inordinately impacts the poor and middle class.

Inflation is much higher than the govt. reports, look at housing, health care, gasoline, natural gas, college tuition. The govt. under reports it, so the people stay happy in their ignorance.

The deficit's size matters after some point (can't grow faster than the GDP for long), then it affects the value of the currency, which we see now, then it affects how much you spend every day. If your salary does not keep up with the loss of purchasing power of the dollar, YOUR STANDARD OF LIVING FALLS. That is why the deficit matters.

 

It's amazing our stock markets and economy hasn't completely tanked with all that doom and gloom.