So Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff comes out with these lovely jewels http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6360469.stm
"We know that the explosively formed projectiles are manufactured in Iran," Gen Pace said while visiting Australia.
"But I would not say by what I know that the Iranian government clearly knows or is complicit."
and furthermore
"What [the evidence] does say is that things made in Iran are being used in Iraq to kill coalition soldiers."
which, forgive me, seems to pretty well contradict this http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6362307.stm
President Bush has insisted a branch of Iran's Revolutionary Guards is linked to some attacks on US troops in Iraq.
The US was "certain", he said, that the force was providing a weapon known as an EFP, which the US says has been used in particularly deadly attacks.
And for anyone tired of me being a BBC-pundit heres the NYTimes
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/15/world/middleeast/15prexy.html?hp&ex=11...
President Bush said Wednesday that he was certain that factions within the Iranian government had supplied Shiite militants in Iraq with deadly roadside bombs that had killed American troops.
So which is it?
Of note in this to me is that the military is publicly countering the administration. Thats the kind of thing that you lose your career over. You only draw that line when you know disaster is looming.
For anyone who doesn't know the Army has been enacting Stop-loss policies for a while now. Stop-loss isn't quite the last step before a draft, but in this scenario it might be. See, standard policy post stop loss, I believe (and if you know better please correct me) is to activate the reserves and National Guard. Problem is, we started with that maneuver, which was wrong, but as long as I can't change history I'm not up to debate that point.
We're stretched to our limits now; we've over-reached. Any thought of action in Iran is beyond folly.
I'm of the opinion that the Joint Chiefs of Staff know this.
Enlistments
Well, after stop-loss, they would call up reserves, which you've pointed out, they've already ehausted. The next move is to call up the Immediate Ready Reserves, these are people who aren't regular reservists. They've all actually gotten out of active duty in the last 4 years and are kept on the books(with no pay, or medical benefits) just in case. The one problem for the government is that if an IRR gets called up, he gets 3 times the normal pay of his rank, which is written into the enlistment contract. Read that again, 3 times the normal pay of his rank! Now you see why Bush is so freaking afraid of this non-binding resolution, and its natural extrapolation, the reduction of funds for new personnel. Plus, he knows the public won't tolerate an open draft at all, but he could get away with an IRR recall without too much notice. So, if congress limits personnel funds(not armor, not ammunition, not food, basically not anything that protects and nourishes the troops) in some way, possibly limiting troop/enlistment numbers(remember Congress raises the army, the president commands it) then not only is Bush a lame duck, they've cut off his dick too.
So...
Why is he beating the drums for Iran? Is the backwards thinking that if he makes Iran enough of a threat, then Congress will fund Iraq?
Honestly baffled by the whole Iran line of reasoning.
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