Recruiting Woes

Bushco sends its generals out to rag on John Murtha. He's hurting recruiting, they say:

Lawmaker's Talk About Military Irks Joint Chiefs Chair

Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, criticized Rep. John P. Murtha yesterday for sending "the wrong message" to American youth when the congressman indicated in an interview this week that he would not join today's military.

Here's what really hurts recruiting:

Pentagon Study Links Fatalities to Light Armor

A secret Pentagon study has found that as many as 80 percent of the marines who have been killed in Iraq from wounds to the upper body could have survived if they had had extra body armor. Such armor has been available since 2003, but until recently the Pentagon has largely declined to supply it to troops despite calls from the field for additional protection, according to military officials.

The ceramic plates in vests now worn by the majority of troops in Iraq cover only some of the chest and back. In at least 74 of the 93 fatal wounds that were analyzed in the Pentagon study of marines from March 2003 through June 2005, bullets and shrapnel struck the marines' shoulders, sides or areas of the torso where the plates do not reach.

Thirty-one of the deadly wounds struck the chest or back so close to the plates that simply enlarging the existing shields "would have had the potential to alter the fatal outcome," according to the study, which was obtained by The New York Times.

For the first time, the study by the military's medical examiner shows the cost in lives from inadequate armor, even as the Pentagon continues to publicly defend its protection of the troops.

Why does the Bush Administration hate the troops? Why have they let them die rather than properly equip them? Are they STILL, three years later, "surprised" by the insurgency?

Bremer Says U.S. Was Surprised by Insurgency

Just the usual. The incompetence, the corruption, the cronyism. Dumber than a bag of hammers, and half as useful. These bums have to go.