Tough Questions...

Defense Secretary Rumsfeld was asked a pretty tough question by one the soldiers headed to war. MSNBC reports on Bush's response here: Bush: Soldiers’ equipment gripes heard. Rumsfeld's response was:

“You go to war with the Army you have,” Rumsfeld replied, “not the Army you might want or wish to have.”

Now, I think that was a pretty shitty answer and one that "Rummy" may not have been prepared for, but I digress. So what if the question was "prompted" by a reporter, it still deserves a better answer than that. Now watch that soldier get reamed for asking it.

Going back to the Clinton Administration and his cuts in Defense Spending is where I would place a majority of the blame. I served during that time and was apalled at some of the "quick fixes" applied just to keep stuff working (Remember, if it can't be fixed with duct tape and bailing wire, it can't be fixed!). But, and this is a big BUT here, a lot of the blame also lies with the Bush Administration and with Congress. The Center for Defense Information (CDI.org) had this to say Congress’s Deeds Do Not Match Its Words. The government seems to think that most Americans are frickin' stupid. At least, that's what crap like this says to me. If Bush and Rumsfeld were really concerned about our troops, they would have made certain that the money was there for our troops by appealing to Congress to cut the pork and put it's money where it's mouth is.