What Senator Webb didn't understand, according to blowhard Chambliss, was that "during World War II and other wars of this country, service members participating in those wars deployed for 3 and 4 years with little or no break." [Bob Geiger, "GOP's Chambliss Compares Iraq Troop Relations to WW II," Huffington Post, July 13, 2007] Yet, had the smacked-ass party loyalist from Georgia taken the time to seriously inform himself about this issue, he might have learned what retired General William E. Odom knows.
According to Gen. Odom, "No U.S. forces have ever been compelled to stay in sustained combat conditions for as long as the Army units have in Iraq. In World War II, soldiers were considered combat-exhausted after about 180 days on the line. They were withdrawn for rest periods…In Iraq, combat units take over an area of operations and patrol it daily, making soldiers face the prospect of death from an IED or small arms fire or mortar fire each day. Day in and day out for a full year, with only a single two-week break, they confront the prospect of death, losing limbs or eyes, or suffering serious wounds." [Odom, "'Supporting the Troops' Means Withdrawing Them," Neiman Watchdog, 5 July 2007]
Some have argued that Webb's bill was an unconstitutional constraint on the president's war-making authority, even if it had survived a presidential veto. But, then, the question remains: "Why hasn't the Bush administration taken similar steps to support the troops?
Why? Because such relief would jeopardize Bush's plans to "string out the war until he leaves office, in order to avoid taking responsibility for the defeat he has caused and persisted in making greater each year for more than three years." [Odom] Ever decreasing combat readiness and the death of a few hundred more soldiers and Marines can be offset temporarily by a "surge" in troop strength.
Unfortunately, in a regime where such losses seem but a small price to pay, in order to assure that Bush can claim that Iraq wasn't lost during his presidency, "support for the troops" becomes synonymous with the support that a noose provides a hanging man.
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