George,

Much has been made by the Republican Party about the need to support our troops in Iraq. But it becomes less and less clear what their idea of support consists of, aside from discouraging political speech that criticizes the President.

This administration failed to expand the size of the army during the last 2 years when the need for a larger military was obvious and high morale would have enabled such an expansion. They made this decision because it would have been politically challenging and probably would have reduced the funds available for the expensive missile defense shield. Nevertheless, they voluntarily entered into a non-defensive conflict for which our military was clearly unprepared. The lives of over-stretched American soldiers were cheaper than the courage to lead an effort on Capitol Hill to enlist more troops. George W. Bush chose the coward's way out and forced less privileged people to take the risk for him, much as he did during the war in Vietnam.

Bush made examples out of Army Chief of Staff General Eric Shinseki and Secretary of the Army Thomas White by firing them for suggesting that far more troops were needed. Now his Secretary of Defense has the audacity to blame soldiers in the field for failing to request more troops. Scapegoating American field commanders for strategic organizational errors is not what many would call ‘supporting our troops.’ Rather, it is a sick betrayal at a time when our soldiers are in more danger than ever before.

Now, the President’s gross misjudgments about the direction in which to take the military have begun to take their terrible toll in exactly the way that Democrats and independent Republicans like John McCain said they would. Everybody knew that this was going to happen. We have had enough of lies, excuses and betrayals. It is time for an apology from this President who has never shown any inclination to accept responsibility for the gross errors of his puppeteers. If this man harbors any hope of being granted four more years of responsibility for the safety of this country, he had better start accepting it now.

Jackson Landers (electronic mail, April 7, 2004)