January 27, 2006
A Week Of Presidential Incompetence
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT
News from DNC:
Washington, DC- This week further detailed the incompetence of the Bush Administration. The deadly consequences of the Bush Administration's failures were laid bare in a Pentagon-commissioned study about how the Bush Administration has hollowed out our Armed Forces, and reports that the Bush Administration was warned the levees in New Orleans were likely to break following Hurricane Katrina. Other stories this week covered the release of a government report that documented fraud, incompetence and confusion in the two years of occupation immediately following the Iraq War.
"From failed policies that have overstretched our military to failing to properly plan for post-war reconstruction in Iraq to the problems low-income seniors have in obtaining prescription drugs, this week has again highlighted the serious consequences of the Bush Administration's incompetence," said Democratic National Committee Press Secretary Josh Earnest. "The American people are hungry for change. Democrats will work to help our soldiers win the war on terror, and are committed to restoring honesty and integrity in government. Democrats will get the job done, because America deserves better."
Pentagon Study: US Military Overextended. "The U.S. military is overextended and can't sustain the pace of troop deployments required to defeat the insurgency in Iraq or maintain stability in Afghanistan, according to a study commissioned by the Pentagon. 'The ground forces required to provide the necessary level of stability and security to Afghanistan and Iraq clearly exceed those available for the mission,' said the analysis for the Pentagon by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a Washington-based defense policy research group. The 136-page report by the center's director, Andrew Krepinevich, a retired Army officer, presents a more pessimistic picture of the military's condition than President George W. Bush and Pentagon officials have acknowledged publicly." [Bloomberg, 1/25/06]
Report By Albright And Perry: Ground Forces Under Tremendous Strain. According to a report by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former Secretary of Defense William Perry, "the Army and Marine Corps ground forces are stretched to the breaking point by the prolonged large commitment of troops to Iraq and Afghanistan and cannot sustain the current pace of deployments 'without doing real damage to their forces.' Secretary Perry "said that although the U.S. forces are performing 'superbly' in the war on terror, "our ground forces are under enormous strain. This strain, if not soon relieved, will have highly corrosive and potentially long-term effects on the force.'" [Copley News Service, 1/25/06]
- General Casey: Army Forces "Stretched." "The top U.S. general in Iraq acknowledged Thursday that American forces are 'stretched' but said troop withdrawals will be dictated by war strategy and not the strain faced by the soldiers. Gen. George Casey's remarks contrasted sharply with statements made on Wednesday by U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who disputed findings of an unreleased study conducted for the Pentagon that said the Army is overextended because of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. President Bush shrugged off the report Thursday. 'The forces are stretched ... and I don't think there's any question of that,' Casey said of U.S. armed forces deployed in large numbers in Afghanistan and Iraq." [AP, 1/26/06, emphasis added]
Bush Was Warned About Katrina. "Documents released today by Congress show that two days before Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, the White House received detailed damage forecasts from Homeland Security officials predicting that the city's levees might be overtopped or breached. Yet in the days after the storm struck on Aug. 29, federal officials, including President Bush, said the levee breaches could not have been foreseen.Embattled former FEMA Director Michael Brown said, 'I think we were all taken aback by the fact that the levees did break in so many places and caused such widespread devastation.'" [AP, 1/24/06]
Study: Iraq Reconstruction Plagued By Fraud, Misuse Of Funds. "A new audit of American financial practices in Iraq has uncovered irregularities including millions of reconstruction dollars stuffed casually into footlockers and filing cabinets, an American soldier in the Philippines who gambled away cash belonging to Iraq, and three Iraqis who plunged to their deaths in a rebuilt hospital elevator that had been improperly certified as safe. The audit, released Tuesday by the office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, expands on its previous findings of fraud, incompetence and confusion as the American occupation poured money into training and rebuilding programs in 2003 and 2004. The audit uncovers problems in an area that includes half the landmass in Iraq." [New York Times, 1/24/06]
Low-Income Seniors Not Signing Up For Bush's Failed Prescription Drug Plan. "Low-income seniors without Medicaid or prescription coverage are signing up for a new Medicare drug benefit at a far slower rate than others, a sign the program isn't reaching many of those who need it most. Fewer than 300,000 of the 3.6 million people who have voluntarily enrolled in the drug program were approved for a low-income subsidy. That's just 4% of the 8.2 million people the Bush administration estimated could qualify for the subsidy. By contrast, more than 3.3 million people have signed up for coverage without qualifying for the subsidy. That's nearly 25% of an estimated 14 million people without full prescription drug coverage who are not low-income." [USA Today, 1/25/06]
Congressional Budget Office: Bush Can't Make Irresponsible Tax Cuts Permanent And Cut The Deficit In Half by 2009. "Making President Bush's tax cuts permanent will prolong big budget deficits into the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office projected Thursday. But if those tax cuts are allowed to expire after 2010 - effectively a tax increase Bush has sworn to oppose - the budget would begin showing a surplus in 2012, the CBO's budget projections showed. Bush wants Congress to make the tax cuts permanent before he leaves office in 2009." [USA Today, 1/27/06]
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT