Progress Report: Troubling Troop Tactics

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Center for American Progress - Progress Report

 

 

by David Sirota, Christy Harvey, Judd Legum and

Jonathan Baskin

 

August 17, 2004

 

MILITARY Troubling Troop Tactics

EDUCATION Gov. Bush Gets Schooled

Under the Radar

 

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Correction: Yesterday's Progress Report mistakenly

indicated Porter Goss was a House Representative from

Pennsylvania. He is from the state of Florida.

 

MILITARY Troubling Troop Tactics

President Bush yesterday announced the massive

overhaul of the structure of the U.S. military,

outlining a vague restructuring of deployment which

would " bring home about 60,000 to 70,000 uniformed

personnel. " #160;It's true #8211; the Pentagon has

been striving to become lighter, more agile. And a

look at the overseas configuration of U.S. troops

after the Cold War is worth consideration. But Bush

took this sensitive national security issue and

divorced it from a complex, even-headed debate about

the future of the U.S. military. The announcement

skirted addressing any of the crucial details and

questions. The result? An empty proposal which runs

counter to America's economic, military and strategic

interests.

 

IN A LAND FAR, FAR AWAY: The New York Times writes,

" the troop redeployment plan announced yesterday by

President Bush makes little long-term strategic

sense. " It takes time to deploy troops from the United

States and, as former Defense Secretary Les Aspin once

said (which was quoted in the 2/26/03 St. Louis Post

Dispatch), " The pros all say that you have to get

there in the first few hours, because if you lose the

ground, it's hard to get it back. " John White, former

deputy secretary of defense, says, " I don't understand

how we gain strategic ability to respond by moving

people to the U.S., further away from the likely

trouble spots#8230;I don't get it. " The Washington

Post concurs: " The conflicts of the past decade have

been in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq; Africa

is of increasing concern; none of these is closer to

Kansas than to Germany. "

 

REWARDING NORTH KOREA: Pulling troops from South Korea

right now while North Korea is pushing for nuclear

capability is sending exactly the wrong message. Gen.

Wes Clark, who served as the former North American

Treaty Organization supreme allied commander, " said

reducing troops in Europe and Asia also would signal

to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il that the United

States had weakened its resolve against that country's

nuclear weapons program. " The Washington Post opines,

" North Korea has pressed for U.S. troop withdrawals

for years; now that it is misbehaving in the nuclear

field, it receives a reward, and for no concessions. "

As one former Army officer put it, " It seems like

preemptive concession. "

 

IGNORING THE REAL PROBLEM: The New York Times writes

that repositioning troops stationed in Germany, South

Korea and Japan does " nothing to address the

military's most pressing current need: relieving the

chronic strain on ground forces that has resulted from

failing to anticipate the long, and largely

unilateral, American occupation of Iraq. " President

Bush has refused to support a permanent increase in

the size of the Army, causing American troops to have

to endure longer and longer deployments in battle-torn

Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

EXPENSIVE OVERHAUL: Such a major restationing of

troops is an expensive undertaking, as bases will have

to be expanded to handle the incoming flux of service

members. At the moment, any overseas bases are

subsidized by the countries in which they are located.

Germany continues to contribute nearly $1 billion each

year to U.S. bases; South Korea and Japan also

contribute hefty sums. The nonpartisan Congressional

Budget Office (CBO) estimated in May that restationing

troops could cost about $7 billion up front. And the

payoff would be small. " Restationing Army forces would

produce, at best, only small improvements in the

United States' ability to respond to far-flung

conflicts, " the CBO said.

 

FAMILIES BACK HOME: An estimated 70,000 troops return

to the United States, bringing 100,000 family members

with them. President Bush, however, has cut funding

for military families numerous times in the past. The

Bush administration has tried to cut $1.5 billion out

of funding for military housing and medical

facilities; proposed closing commissaries; tried to

roll back increases in monthly imminent-danger pay

(from $225 to $150) and family-separation allowance

(from $250 to $100) for troops in combat; cut $174

million from schools near military bases while

eliminating aid to military base schools; and left out

one million children living in military and veteran

families from the child tax credit passed last year.

 

EDUCATION Gov. Bush Gets Schooled

In Florida yesterday, a state appeals court struck

down a law backed by Gov. Jeb Bush which used taxpayer

money to subsidize students attending religious

schools. The development further undermines cases

being made in several states for siphoning funds from

public schools and granting them to privately run

institutions. The decision was a victory for those

opposed to the blurring of lines between church and

state and could call into question federal proposals

along similar lines.

 

THE CASE AGAINST VOUCHERS: Yesterday's 2-1 decision by

the Florida State appeals court invalidated " the

centerpiece of Gov. Jeb Bush's education policies, "

striking down a 1999 law allowing students from

failing schools to attend private schools using

taxpayer money. Though Bush has argued his program

merely provides lower-income students with more

choices regarding their education #8211; reasoning

used by his brother's administration to justify

similar programs on a federal level #8211; the court

pointed out that the " 'vast majority' of students with

vouchers used them to enroll in the kind of 'sectarian

institutions,' or religious schools. " The ruling

affirmed Gov. Bush's program ignores " the clear

language of the Constitution, which prohibits tax

revenues from being used 'in aid' of any religious

institution. " It comes less than two months after

Colorado's Supreme Court made a similar decision,

declaring unconstitutional under state law the

implementation of a law that would have provided

private and religious school vouchers to qualifying

students in Colorado.

 

CHOICE INCENTIVE FUND: The Florida ruling may have an

impact on federal proposals along similar lines. In

January, Bush Education Secretary Rod Paige announced

the president's 2005 budget would propose " $50 million

for a Choice Incentive Fund to ensure America's

parents have more choices for their children. " The

Fund would provide competitive awards to states,

school districts and community-based nonprofit

organizations, which could then be used to help

parents transfer their children to high-performing

public, private or charter schools. Since the National

Education Association (NEA) estimates 85 percent of

private schools are also religious schools, such a

proposal may meet similar opposition. Meanwhile, even

as it proposes incentives for voucher-like programs,

the administration promises to cut funds for Head

Start and continues to underfund its own public school

initiatives.

 

ADMINISTRATION BURIES INCONVENIENT STUDY: In a session

of " Ask the White House " earlier this summer,

Education Under Secretary Nina Rees explained to a

questioner that " people who attack charter schools are

not well informed about them. " Perhaps the reason so

many people are uninformed is that the Bush

administration fails to publicize relevant data on the

issue. According to the New York Times, " The first

national comparison of test scores among children in

charter schools and regular public schools shows

charter school students often doing worse than

comparable students in regular public schools. " The

public may be excused for not knowing the results,

however, since " the findings [were] buried in

mountains of data the Education Department released

without public announcement. " One would think the Bush

administration would be more careful about publicizing

data on an issue that is central to the president's No

Child Left Behind program. " I guess that was poor

publicity on our part, " said Robert Lerner, the

federal commissioner for education statistics.

 

Under the Radar

 

HEALTH CARE #8211; ILLINOIS TAKES ANOTHER STEP: USA

Today reports " Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D),

abandoning a months-long bid to first get federal

approval, will announce today that his state will help

Illinois residents buy prescription drugs from

pre-screened pharmacies in Canada, England and

Ireland. " The program will be the first to assist

residents with drug purchases from Europe, a move made

necessary in part by the drug industry's increasingly

successful effort to cut off supplies to Canadian

pharmacies that provide drugs to U.S. residents. The

White House/GOP leadership continues to oppose

legislation giving seniors access to lower-priced,

FDA-approved medicines from abroad, employing

ever-more ridiculous arguments to protect the profits

of the same drug companies who fund their political

campaigns. Last week, the administration deployed its

FDA chairman to claim, without any proof, that

reimported medicines are a top al Qaeda target. Five

other states, the District of Columbia and several

cities offer programs to help residents or employees

purchase drugs from pharmacies in Canada, where prices

are generally lower than in the U.S.

 

IRAQ #8211; TROOPS GET FIGHT AT HOME: AP reports,

" increasing numbers of National Guard and Reserve

troops who have returned from war in Iraq and

Afghanistan are encountering new battles with their

civilian employers at home. Jobs were eliminated,

benefits reduced and promotions forgotten. " Since

9/11, the Labor Department reports receiving greater

numbers of complaints under a 1994 law designed to

give Guard and Reserve troops their old jobs back, or

provide them with equivalent positions. Benefits and

raises must be protected, as if the serviceman or

servicewoman had never left.

 

POLITICS #8211; CONTROLLING EXPOSURE: AP reports that

the Bush campaign is exerting more and more control

over exactly who President Bush interacts with in

supposedly public events on the campaign trail.

Specifically, Bush-Cheney officials make sure

" dissenters and would-be hecklers are turned away. " On

several occasions in recent weeks, citizens have been

ejected from Bush events simply " because they wore

pro-Kerry T-shirts. " The AP report follows an earlier

report from the AP which found that citizens had to

sign pledges of allegiance to the Republican Party

before they were allowed to hear Vice President Dick

Cheney speak. AP notes that " by contrast, most of

Kerry's events are open to the public. "

 

IRAQ #8211; VICE PRESIDENT 'COWARD': With Vice

President Cheney continuing his attacks on his

opponent's commitment to U.S. national security, some

are fighting back by pointing out that Cheney's

credentials in standing up for his own country are

suspect. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), a Navy pilot during

Vietnam, said " When I hear [attacks] coming from Dick

Cheney, who was a coward, who would not serve during

the Vietnam War, it makes my blood boil. Those of us

who served and those of us who went in the military

don't like it when someone like a Dick Cheney comes

out and he wants to be tough. Yeah, he'll be tough.

He'll be tough with somebody else's blood, somebody

else's kids. But not when it was his turn to go. "

Cheney received five deferments to avoid serving in

Vietnam. Cheney's first child, Elizabeth, was born

nine months and two days after childless men were

deemed eligible for the draft, allowing Cheney to

receive a special deferment and avoid service.

Meanwhile, President Bush has refused to release

documents proving his whereabouts when he was supposed

to be serving in the Texas Air National Guard.

 

POLITICS #8211; CHENEY USES 'SENSITIVE' IN SAME

INTERVIEW: Last week, Vice President Dick Cheney

attacked Sen. John Kerry (D) for using the word

" sensitive " in discussing war combat. Cheney went on

the conservative Hugh Hewitt radio show and said, " I

don't think any of the wars we've won, were won by us

being quote sensitive. " Yet, minutes later in the very

same interview, Cheney invoked the word " sensitive " to

describe how the war in Iraq should be fought. He said

of fighting in Najaf, " Obviously it is a sensitive

area, and we are very much aware of its sensitivity. "

See more examples of how Cheney and other top

administration officials use the word " sensitive " to

describe war, yet continue their attacks on Sen. Kerry

for doing the same.

 

 

FeaturesDON'T MISS

DAILY TALKING POINTS: The Trouble With Troop

Realignment

 

TERRORISM: Salon looks at how subcontracting hunt for

bin Laden to Pakistanis hurts America's national

security.

 

MEDIA: Why is a congressional candidate, who is

" widely expected to lose, " raking in so much cash from

telecom industry?

 

POLITICS: Cheney desperately twists language in effort

to attack opponents.

DAILY GRILL

" One group run by industry lobbyists, called the Sport

Utility Vehicle Owners of America, says on its Web

site that it is a myth that SUVs guzzle gas. "

 

- NY Times, 8/17/04

 

VERSUS

 

SUVs get, on average, less than 21 miles per gallon,

with some getting less than 15 miles per gallon. By

contrast, many hybrids already on the market get over

40 miles per gallon.

 

- Detroit News, 12/13/02; ABC News, 4/25/01

 

DAILY OUTRAGE

The Bush administration has sunk to invoking the fear

of terrorism to prevent seniors from purchasing lower

priced, FDA-approved medicines from Canada.

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