Carpe Datum

Not Ready for Duty, Sir!

I thought the exact same thing when I saw it in the paper yesterday morning, and Atrios helpfully provides the relevant links for then:

Democrats were infuriated when Governor Bush said at the Republican convention in Philadelphia last month that two U.S. army divisions, if called into action by the president, ''would have to report 'not ready for duty, sir.'''

Those divisions are now combat-ready, Democrats argued, a fact confirmed by General Henry Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

and now:

Four Army divisions -- 40 percent of the active-duty force -- will not be fully combat-ready for up to six months next year, leaving the nation with relatively few ready troops in the event of a major conflict in North Korea or elsewhere, a senior Army official said yesterday.

The four divisions -- the 82nd Airborne, the 101st Airborne, the 1st Armored and the 4th Infantry -- are to return from Iraq next spring, to be replaced by three others, with a fourth rotating into Afghanistan. That would leave only two active-duty divisions available to fight in other parts of the world.

Ok, wait, now let's play the game. Let's predict the Republican response to this criticism. I pick the "dissent = treason" response. That is, Republicans will say that it is disloyal and treasonous for liberals to be talking about our military's weakness while we are in the midst of a global war against terror. The liberals just want the terrorists to win.

Not that the Republicans need to bother. This ridiculous hypocrisy, like all the rest of it, will soon be forgotten by the mainstream media just like everything else as soon as Paris Hilton accidentally on purpose releases another sex video or another celebrity goes on trial or the Ohio shooter decides to go nuts now that he's getting attention, etc.

Thanks, liberal media!

Posted by Observer at December 7, 2003 08:35 AM