Cheapskates

While I was listening to NPR's Car Talk a week or so ago, the brothers got a call from a Sergeant in Bagdad, Iraq. His HMMWV's (Humvee's) were breaking down every week or so because their springs and ball joints weren't built to carry the 5000 lbs. of Armor they now carry. They weren't able to offer him much good advice, aside from more frequent preventive maintenance, but the story reminded me of why I hate these Republican SOB's.

During World War II, we designed the P-51 fighter in 117 days. It, when combined with the Rolls Royce engine, became the premier air superiority fighter of World War II. We have now been in Iraq longer than we were in Europe during WW II and we still haven't come up with new f****** ball joints and springs? And why don't our soldiers have the V-hulled combat vehicles that have proven to be very resistant to IED damage?

The answer is the same as the reason we never properly planned for Iraq, and never put in the number of troops required for an occupation. Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld were determined to fight this war on the cheap. Soldiers were expendable, but they thought they could fight the war for $40 billion. Even now, with projected price tag approaching a trillion dollars, and with the full scope of the disaster before us, Rumsfeld won't let the repair depots in the US work more than 40 hours per week - he won't pay overtime just to keep our soldiers alive.

What a bunch of sorry, miserable disgraces the American people put, and left in office.

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