Bush Finds New Troops

Where the old troops were. In what must be a desperate attempt to avoid discussion of a military draft, Bush administration sources told reporters that the US will shuffle 70,000 troops from overseas and "return them to the United States."

I must have missed something. When did Iraq become an official state?

Also, you'd think that, by now, people in high positions in and around the military would understand that this calculus doesn't make sense:

"This will take years to complete," said one Pentagon official, who refused to discuss the number of troops involved. "It will not, it will not, result in any reduced commitment to our friends and allies. Wherever people go down, weapons and technology will more than make up the difference."

A senior administration official traveling with Bush in Portland, Oregon, said the president "will be discussing next week how the United States will structure its military capabilities to meet the threats of the 21st century with new technologies and new capabilities."

Ooooh, our shiny new whizz-bangs will eliminate the need for soldiers!

Ask the NVA if that's true.

Also, note this:

The proposed global realignment includes plans to use bases in Eastern European countries of the former Soviet bloc as transit points to quickly send forces from the United States to trouble spots such as the Middle East and northern Africa.

In other words, our new stooge friends in Eastern Europe who aren't economically independent and, so as not to bring the gravy train to a halt, won't object to our bombing the piss out of even poorer countries, will now play host to US forces--and likely at much reduced lease rates for land for bases.

Finally, check this out:

The U.S. Air Force, for example, is currently discussing plans to station heavy bombers and new F/A-22 jets on the U.S. island of Guam in the mid-Pacific to address any future threat from North Korea (news - web sites) and China.

F/A-22 fighter/strike aircraft need a couple of in-flight refuelings to make it from Guam to North Korea and back (Read about that expensive piece of hardware here).

Haven't these people heard of aircraft carriers? The US Navy maintains nine Nimitz-class carriers, the venerable USS Enterprise, and two non-nuclear-powered carriers. There are no North Korean Navy units capable of challenging the US Navy on the high seas, and the strike aircraft carried on board a CVN can more than fulfill the missions of any F/A-22 sent from Guam.

Basically, that line of argument about aircraft from Guam making up for soldiers in Korea is crap. If the maintenance of air superiority over Korea is the goal, the US Navy could handle that with ease.