The decision by Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, the Army's chief of staff, is believed to be unprecedented and signals a widespread belief within the Army that in the absence of significant troop withdrawals from Iraq, funding assumptions must be completely reworked, say current and former Pentagon officials." Spiegal
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"An army travels on its stomach.." Did Bonaparte say that? Whether he did or not, it is a profound truth. The phrase is just filled with "truthiness." Operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere are eating up huge amounts of money. The fiscal year is ending and other departments of the federal government have been told that if they do not "obligate" all their funds they will be taken away and given to Defense to try to feed the maw of war. The war in Iraq is "eating up"vast amounts of expensive equipment. Procurement is slowing down in order to divert funds to operational costs.
A few weeks ago I told a meeting at a think tank here in Washington that the general assumption that the US has enough strength to do whatever it wants is incorrect, and that we are not as strong as we may think we are. This notion was politely ignored.
I had doubts about Peter Schoomaker. I wondered what he must be if Rumsfeld called him back from retirement to be Chief of Staff. Lately I have been hearing that he is different from what I had thought, that he demands at meetings that officers stop trying to BS him with Power Point slides full of received wisdom. He seems to actually want them to THINK.
Now, he has told Rumsfeld that the Army will not participate in a budgetary farce. My. My.
Pat Lang
