Senator Kerry On Troop Call-Ups
Senator Kerry isn't very happy about the Pentagon's decision to call up Individual Ready Reserve troops for service in Iraq (via OTB).
Having an opinion about the call-up of IRR soldiers is one thing, but its quite another to criticize this call-up of troops after advocating for an increase of troops in Iraq just a month ago.
Where exactly does Kerry expect the troops to come from?
Plus, its not like we're calling troops back out of retirement. IRR troops are inactive reserves who have not yet completed their contractual obligations to the military. By contract, these men are required to serve again if called upon. This was part of the agreement they signed their names too when they joined the military.
Washington - Senator John F. Kerry's campaign yesterday seized on the Pentagon's call-up of thousands of former soldiers for duty in Iraq and Afghanistan to step up its charge that the Bush administration's management of the military has left the Army spread dangerously thin. The move demonstrated the Kerry campaign's increasing willingness to engage Bush on what had been the president's perceived strength, his handling of national security.
Kerry advisers contend that the call-up of the Individual Ready Reserve is the result of a series of bad decisions and poor war planning by Bush and his top advisers. His campaign released a "fact sheet" and brought forward a retired Air Force chief who campaigned for Bush in 2000 to reinforce its claims. "The troops are paying the price for arrogant mismanagement and poor planning at the civilian policy level," retired Air Force Chief of Staff General Merrill "Tony" McPeak, a Kerry adviser, said in a conference call with reporters yesterday. "The force we have in Iraq today is part of what I call an in-between force -- too small to solve the problem and too big to be supported by our force structure."
Having an opinion about the call-up of IRR soldiers is one thing, but its quite another to criticize this call-up of troops after advocating for an increase of troops in Iraq just a month ago.
Where exactly does Kerry expect the troops to come from?
Plus, its not like we're calling troops back out of retirement. IRR troops are inactive reserves who have not yet completed their contractual obligations to the military. By contract, these men are required to serve again if called upon. This was part of the agreement they signed their names too when they joined the military.
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