Senator Barack Obama made the following assertion in last night’s debate that has sparked a firestorm of debate in the blogosphere:
You know, I’ve heard from an Army captain who was the head of a rifle platoon–supposed to have 39 men in a rifle platoon. Ended up being sent to Afghanistan with 24 because 15 of those soldiers had been sent to Iraq.
And as a consequence, they didn’t have enough ammunition, they didn’t have enough Humvees. They were actually capturing Taliban weapons, because it was easier to get Taliban weapons than it was for them to get properly equipped by our current commander in chief.
Suffice it to say that parts of the story are more, shall we say, nuanced than the inexperienced junior Senator from Illinois who wants us to cut and run from Iraq even at the risk of genocide made it out to be, and that his claim about US soldiers scrounging weapons was flat out false. There are tons of responses to this argument at milblogs and other blogs, and you can read them all here. This response is among the best of them.
Related reading: Ed Morrissey on BO and his association with Weather Undergrounders William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn: ” If Obama can’t stand up to two discredited American terrorists in Chicago … well, you get the drift. What does it say about Obama’s politics that Ayers and Dohrn approved of him, and what does it say about Obama that he felt he needed their blessing?”
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I respect you Sister Toldjah and your views but c’mon. What is this:
A gang member that killed and served 15 years in prison approved of me so much that I was his best man when he got married. And I asked for his advice during a crucial decision in my life. What does that say about me? That I’m light on crime? That I approve of criminals?
Comment by T-Steel @ 2/23/2008 - 12:52 am
There’s an old saying: When you lie down with dogs, you get fleas.
Comment by NC Cop @ 2/23/2008 - 8:30 am
You’re not running for president, TSteel, Obama is. Me - nor Ed, for that matter - are suggesting that Obama’s views are in line with the Weather Underground, just that he - once again - is showing extremely poor judgement.
Comment by Sister Toldjah @ 2/23/2008 - 8:45 am
If a conservative Republican sought the endorsement of the KKK at the begining of his career it would be newsworthy, but for a liberal Democrat to seek the Weather Underground - no surprise.
Comment by omapian @ 2/23/2008 - 9:14 am
1. Captains in the Army do not head platoons. They are in charge of Companies.
2. Companies as a whole get sent to Iraq. They would not send only a few people from a Company Unit to Iraq, so saying they SPLIT soldiers up and sent part of them is inncorrect. They would not send part of a unit to engagment and part to another.
Comment by sanity @ 2/23/2008 - 9:22 am
Back to the ill-prepared platoon … It appears that was in 2003-04, when Donald Rumsfield acknowledged “you go to war with the army you have.” This is hardly news, unless you believe platoons are still poorly staffed, equipped, and led. If such is the case, how did candidates vote when it came to paying for the upgrades and intelligence necessary to conduct the war on terror?
Comment by omapian @ 2/23/2008 - 10:00 am
omapian, if a Republican sought the endorsement of the KKK it would be newsworthy because it would have him crossing party lines to do it. Tha Klan was a Democrat organization. And judging by the existence of Robert Byrd it still is.
Comment by Steve Skubinna @ 2/23/2008 - 6:10 pm