The Army, or Murtha and Obey?

Who do you believe?

WASHINGTON — Army officials angrily defended the capability and competence of the service Thursday in response to criticism from a pair of House Democrats who said the fighting force’s readiness is dangerously low.

Outspoken war critic Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., and Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., on Wednesday again called for the resignation of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld for what they said was his failure to keep the military properly staffed and equipped.

They also released a 12-page report compiled from their staff’s examination of Army reports and congressional information requests, which said funding shortfalls and poor planning have led to “the very real prospect that Army readiness will continue to erode, undermining its ability to meet the theater commanders’ needs …”

But Army officials called the detailed report inaccurate and the conclusion of the congressmen off-base.

Read the entire article.

BadgerBadgerBadger

One of the Code Pink protesters whines about me on his blog.

This week, he addressed us in Faux-George-C-Scott-As-Patton style, marred by the fact that he was recording himself talk. Short form of what he had to say in the midst of the usual talking points? He comes from a military family, he has friends and family in the military, and on the basis of this and his certainty that we were not wanted there because we were hurting the troops, he hoped that we would have some moral epiphany tonight and never come back. It sounded remarkably like a fundamentalist of any stripe giving the “please convert” speech before they do something awful to you, which may just be a prelude to the pro-war freepathon that will be happening in DC next weekend after Camp Democracy is over.

I attempted to say something to this young man, but both the other vigilers and the orator’s wingman intercepted me - so I just said it clearly enough that it would be picked up on his tape: that he was not going to get his message across by coming here under false pretenses, then telling us that we would listen to him, and attempting to take the moral high ground from a position of subterfuge. I identify with Sisyphus, what can I say.

The real story is that this guy started to approach me, then nearly pissed his pants when he found himself face-to-face with Major Pain.

Also, he's got his facts all mixed up. For instance, he either didn't hear (or intentionally omitted) the part where I revealed that I am an actual, real-life OIF vet -- just the kind of guy his group claims to be supporting. But I guess any mention of that would undermine his claim to victimhood status, since veterans are considered the ultimate victims by this crowd, and therefore worthy (at least in theory) of the utmost respect.

Then -- to top it all off -- he puts up another post about "Why I attend the (Walter Reed) Vigil." The post features a couple lines of text, followed by three videos, featuring...

wait for it...

Jesse MacBeth, Jimmy Massey, and some other poseur.

I swear I'm not making this up!

Something New

What's that buzzing noise I keep hearing?

Fire For Effect

You've been waiting, and wondering when it would finally happen.

Your wait is over.