TIE A YELLOW RIBBON

Joseph Galloway says throw the bastards out for selling our military down the river.

All of this leaves our nation without a credible reserve force in case of emergencies elsewhere in the world, and it leaves those outfits just home from combat without the equipment or the troops to train for their next combat tour.

That's how well this Congress and this administration have taken care of our military. They are grinding down equipment and troops and families without a care.

Shame on them for caring so little about those who give so much, including their precious lives, in defense of our country.

Shame on them for simultaneously making certain that hundreds of billions of defense dollars are diverted to the kind of high-dollar aircraft and naval vessels so beloved of the defense contracting industry who happily fuel the campaign engines of the Republicans and happily provide post-retirement jobs for retired generals and admirals and, yes, out-of-office politicians.

This administration and its sycophantic Republic Congress love to mouth phrases like "support our troops" but their actions belie their words. The Chickenhawks are fond of macho rhetoric and love nothing more than waging war and playing soldier when it's the lives of someone else's kids at stake, unless it's funneling more money to their wealthy and corporate supporters and to themselves. They think bumper stickers and yellow ribbons compensate for inattention and neglect.

Gen. Barry McCaffrey said yesterday on Meet The Press that the thing he most feared was a broken military. He looked, and sounded, as if he thinks he's watching it happen.

Tags: U.S. military, Republican Congress