[Vision2020] Gates Calls for 92,000 More Soldiers, Marines

[Ted Moffett]

Tom et. al.

This is expected.

The following web link to a non pdf copy of "Rebuilding America's
Defenses" (released September, 2000) from the "Project For A New American
Century" web site, quotes an article from September 2002 that speaks as
though they uncovered a "secret" about the plans to remove Saddam from
power prior to the 9/11 attacks.  I don't believe that for anyone who did
the most cursory, open minded research into the plans of the incoming Bush
administration in 2000, would not have come to the conclusion that a
potential invasion of Iraq was on the short list of their most important
goals, along with a considerable expansion of the US military:

http://cryptome.org/rad.htm
---------
Counter terrorism expert Richard Clark, a registered Republican in the 2000
election, who worked with President Bush Sr. through the Clinton years,
called one of the "hard liners against terrorists," recalls the immediate
push on Iraq after 9/11from the W. Bush White House, asserting that
Bush "failed to act prior to 9/11on the threat from Al Qaeda," and distorted
the intelligence that shed doubt on a Saddam link to Al Qaeda or 9/11.  We
hear over and over that "bad intelligence" misled the Bush White House on
Iraq, but if Clark is correct, the linking of Iraq to Al Qaeda and 9/11 was
deliberately pursued when the best intelligence suggested otherwise.  This
commentary coming from a such a credible insider to the workings of the Bush
White House on the terrorism/Iraq issue is chilling:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A13607-2004Mar21?language=printer

>From the Washington Post article at the above web link:

Although expressing points of disagreement with all four presidents, Clarke
reserves by far his strongest language for George W. Bush. The president, he
said, "failed to act prior to September 11 on the threat from Al Qaeda
despite repeated warnings and then harvested a political windfall for taking
obvious yet insufficient steps after the attacks." The rapid shift of focus
to Saddam Hussein, Clarke writes, "launched an unnecessary and costly war in
Iraq that strengthened the fundamentalist, radical Islamic terrorist
movement worldwide."

-----

Link to info on Richard Clark:
http://www.greatertalent.com/biography.php?id=618

Pdf copy of "Rebuilding America's Defenses:"

http://www.newamericancentury.org/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf

-----
Ted Moffett

On 1/11/07, Tom Hansen <thansen at moscow.com> wrote:
>
> >From the American Forces Press Service -
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Gates Calls for 92,000 More Soldiers, Marines
>
> By Jim Garamone
> American Forces Press Service
>
> WASHINGTON, Jan. 11, 2007 - The active-duty Army and Marine Corps will
> grow
> by 92,000 personnel over the next five years, Defense Secretary Robert
> Gates
> said during a White House news conference today.
>
> "The President announced last night that he would strengthen our military
> for the long war against terrorism by authorizing an increase in the
> overall
> strength of the Army and Marine Corps," Gates said. "I am recommending to
> him a total increase in the two services of 92,000 soldiers and Marines
> over
> the next five years."
>
> The breakout is 65,000 soldiers and 27,000 Marines.
>
> The increase will make permanent the 30,000 temporary increase in Army
> end-strength and 5,000 increase in the Marine Corps. Then the services
> will
> increase in annual increments of 7,000 for the Army and 5,000 for the
> Marine
> Corps.
>
> The Army has a current end-strength of 512,400, with the Marines at
> 180,000.
> Under Gates' proposal, the Army's end-strength will grow to 547,000 and
> the
> Marines to 202,000.
>
> "We should recognize that while it may take some time for these new troops
>
> to become available for deployment, it is important that our men and women
> in uniform know that additional manpower and resources are on the way,"
> Gates said.
>
> The increase will give soldiers and Marines more "dwell time" at home,
> officials said. Currently, units are on close to a one-to-one deployment
> to
> dwell time schedule. The increase in end-strength will reduce the stress
> on
> deployable active duty personnel.
>
> Army and Marine officials said the services cannot grow forces overnight.
> Currently, the active duty Army recruits 80,000 young Americans each year
> with the Marines bringing in 39,000.
>
> Recruiting officials said that right now, only three of 10 young men and
> women in the 19-14 year old cohort meet the standards to enlist in the
> military.
>
> Those young men and women have a lot of demands for their services, an
> Army
> official said, and incentives for enlisting and for service may need to be
> "plussed-up" to encourage these people to enlist. The services also may
> need
> to put more recruiters on the street.
>
> Training the individuals in the proper military occupational specialties
> is
> also a potential choke-point. Both the Army and Marine Corps training
> establishments have some growth potential, and can probably expand to
> handle
> the influx, officials in both services said.
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Seeya round town, Moscow.
>
> Tom Hansen
> Moscow, Idaho
>
> ***************************************************
>
> "Seldom, if ever, has a war ended leaving the victors with such a sense of
> uncertainty and fear -- with such a realization that the future is obscure
> and that survival is not assured."
>
> - Edward R. Murrow
>
> ***************************************************
>
>
>
>
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