Quotes of the Morning: Breaking It Down

“Four years after the invasion of Iraq, the high and growing demand for U.S. troops there and in Afghanistan has left ground forces in the United States short of the training, personnel and equipment that would be vital to fight a major ground conflict elsewhere, senior U.S. military and government officials acknowledge.
More troubling, the officials say, is that it will take years for the Army and Marine Corps to recover from what some officials privately have called a ‘death spiral,’ in which the ever more rapid pace of war-zone rotations has consumed 40 percent of their total gear, wearied troops and left no time to train to fight anything other than the insurgencies now at hand.”
-Washington Post, March 19, 2007

“Trouble with the troops? Inconceivable! Not to worry.. Fearless Leader supports the troops 150%, so you know that help is on the way.”
-Skippy

“I remember going down to the basement of the White House the day we committed our troops as last resort, looking at Tommy Franks and the generals on the ground, asking them, ‘Do we have the right plan with the right troop level?’
And they looked me in the eye and said, ‘Yes, sir, Mr. President.’ Of course, I listen to our generals. That's what a president does. A president sets the strategy and relies upon good military people to execute that strategy.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, Second Bush-Kerry Presidential Debate, October 8, 2004

“See? When there is trouble Fearless Leader goes straight to the people with the most important information, learns what he needs to know, and then sets the strategy. That is why they call him the Decider.”
-Skippy

“’We have a strategy right now that is outstripping the means to execute it,’ Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, Army chief of staff, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday.”
-Washington Post, March 19, 2007

“Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was asked last month by a House panel whether he was comfortable with the preparedness of Army units in the United States. He stated simply: ‘No . . . I am not comfortable.’"
-Washington Post, March 19, 2007

“Equipment is also lacking among Army units in the United States, the vast majority of which are rated ‘not ready’ by the Army, based on measures of available gear, training and personnel, according to senior military officers and government officials. Active-duty Army combat brigades in the United States face shortages of heavy, medium and light tactical vehicles such as Humvees; radios; night-vision goggles; and some weapons, Cody said.”
-Washington Post, March 19, 2007

“They apparently didn’t say ‘Mother may I?’ to Fearless Leader first, or maybe he was distracted by a piece of string or a bright shiny thing when they mentioned to impending collapse of the military. Either way, Fearless Leader apparently never found out that our strategy wasn’t working or that our troops aren’t prepared. If they knew that I’m sure that someone in the Administration would have mentioned it.”
-Skippy

“I think we have made significant progress [in Iraq].”
-Vice-President Dick Cheney, January 27, 2007

“See? Don’t worry though.. I’m sure that Fearless Leader has everything in hand and is just working on a plan that will cause peace to break out without using troops, equipment or diplomacy. He is a genius, so you’ll just have to trust him.”
-Skippy

"I'm the commander. See, I don't need to explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing about being the president. Maybe somebody needs to explain to me why they say something, but I don't feel like I owe anybody an explanation."
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush to Bob Woodward, in "Bush at War"