"Support"

Support our troops - the President, Rummy, Cheney, they all keep repeating it. And they keep saying we don't support the troops because we have the nerve to criticize their Iraq: We're Turning the Corner Again!™ strategy. I guess if they keep repeating it, they figure it'll come true. Peter Pan has nothing on these guys. As to techniques to alter reality, I suggest they try clicking their heels, or try some Santeria rituals if they really want to get serious (oh wait, that originated in Cuba, and we can't have any of that commie stuff!).

But here is the truth: this foolish war is decimating our military. All that crap in campaign 2000 about "adults in charge", "help is on the way", "2 divisions would have to report not ready", ad nauseam -- they were all lies. They say 9/11 changed everything. Well, it didn't change that much, and it certainly didn't free our leaders from the responsibility of using our military responsibly, of courting world powers diplomatically, or sending our troops to face enemy fire only in the most dire of circumstances.

The "adults" failed. The "help" is the exact opposite of what was needed. And Rumsfeld is on course to "wreck it and run". Here are some lowlights:

• A volunteer military without volunteers
• The world's largest pile of wrecked and worn-out military equipment
• A military tied down in a strategically meaningless backwater, Iraq
• Commitments to hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of future weapons programs that are militarily as useful as Zeppelins but less fun to watch
• A world wary of U.S. intentions and skeptical of any American claims about anything
• We will be lucky if we can get out of Iraq with anything less than a total loss

Update: One more example - pilot training time slashed - Z

Forgive me if I forget to thank the brilliant, thoughtful, careful, strategic leadership of our Commander in Chief for these great accomplishments.