Oh Yeah? Well What About Next Year?

Or: "Bias? We don't need no steenking bias..."

Gotta Love that WaPo

The Army and Army Reserve expect to meet recruiting goals this year, largely because nearly half the recruits who signed up last year were not counted until they reported for duty, officials said. But military observers say the picture could be bleaker next year, when that delayed entry pool is depleted.

Maybe next year those "observers" will stop staring dumbfounded and join.

The Army's goal was to recruit 77,000 new active Army troops and 21,200 Reserve troops. As of Aug. 31, the Army had 70,479 new recruits and the Army Reserve had 19,642.

But like the title above says...

And there's more bad news (for some) with less spin from USA Today:

Despite The Danger, Iraqis Line Up For Security Jobs

High salaries, national pride outweigh risk of being killed, many say

BAGHDAD — They leave their homes before dawn, their police academy uniforms jammed in a bag and their laminated police identification cards hidden — often inside the sandwiches they bring for lunch or, if they are women, in their headscarves.

Navigating Baghdad's darkened streets, the police cadets try to avoid checkpoints periodically set up by a militia loyal to radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Most have received death threats pinned to the doors of their homes or relayed in whispers by people on the streets.

Despite this, young Iraqis are lining up by the thousands every day for police and army jobs or for positions with multinational contractors. "I can't tell you how many thousands we turn away," said Melvin Goudie, a Scotsman who is director of the Baghdad Police Academy. "I've always thought after the latest attack that no one is going to come back. ... They keep on coming back."

They keep coming back. Read the whole thing. Then read Ali, an Iraqi, responding to something he read in an American Blog:

Allawi’s speech was articulate, impressive and honest and most Iraqis I talked to lately share the same opinion with me, but much more impressive was the reaction of all members of the congress who were there. That was the American people there, the whole American nation not just republicans, standing and cheering not Allawi but what he stood for; IRAQ. They were showing support and friendship to Iraq not Allawi and that was a rare moment in history where the two nations Iraq and America stood as equal friends, no actually it was more like family as one American friend described. Insulting Allawi and Bush and the whole speech, speaking so harshly of that unique moment is an insult not to Bush or Allawi but to both the Iraqi and American nations, and yes that goes for everyone did that.

<...>

I’ll never stop telling what I believe is the truth and won’t stop fighting for that regardless of all the silly accusations and even threats sometimes. I’m not pro-Bush and I’m not pro-Allawi but I stand firmly with the new Iraq and with America.

No link to the sad little American blog in question here - it's typical sewer stuff that plays so well to the Mike Moore crowd, and Ali links it anyway.

And the bottom line is that there's a war, and Ali and I are on one side of it and those folks aren't.

Finally, check this site. A lot of "voices in the wilderness" are making themselves heard over here. And yes, there’s a lot of noise to shout over, and a lot of folks don't want to hear, but the funny thing about truth is that it doesn't run and hide.

And the next time someone tells you it's worse than you think or that we're losing the war, before you tell them they're wrong be sure to ask them which side they're on.