Not unreal at all. The big profits are in procurement and R&D, not manpower. Complaints about manpower, 'readiness,' or military pay are always the judas goats for more funding for procurement. -------------------------------------------------
If it's primarily economically motivated, then it's a 'lobbying hoax'. I'm actually inclined to believe that Uncle Sam _is_ strapped for military resouces, perhaps especially in the 'special forces' category, strung out as it is by this crazy "war". The significance is that, if so, this would create, along with the Palestinians, an additional (and militarily crucial) obstacle to the "Richaed Pearle" version of the invasion of Iraq - the lack of special ops forces - and Pearle's plan relies heavily upon a special ops / local auxillary / Iraqi officer corp revolt strategem.
I can't imagine that it wouldn't take some time to build up and train additional special ops forces. That would not fit into the currently assumed timeline to attack Iraq. Maybe not until Election Year, 2004? Oh, won't that be great...
Or, they could always use the sledgehammer grunt/bomb approach on Baghdad, with all the Vietnam-like implications. They _do_ have the resources for that. ----------------------------------------------------- The other night someone sent an email to Hannity of the Fox H&C dork-fest asking him whether he would be volunteering to serve, seeing as how he was urging great ventures in military force. After beating around the bush, saying 'no' in effect, he said he supported more funding for gear that would preclude the need for soldiers to be in harm's way. Not too macho. ----------------------------------------------------- Ah, yes, the 'go home shot and a beer show' (I don't have cable). The next emailer should appeal to the 'superman' in Hannity and ask him why he isn't itching to jump into some of that hightech gear, since he'll be "out of harm's way". ---------------------------------------------------- More telling is the political hypocrisy reflected in Rummy's remark, since it contradicts one of Bush's campaign themes -- how Clinton allegedly weakened the military. Natch the Dems will not be slow to point this out, even though the political implications don't necessarily point to progressive policy alternatives. ---------------------------------------------------- Nope, "right opportunism" is where it points. -Brad Mayer mbs
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