Imperial overstretch
Just one day's worth of news from the "inside pages" reveals the degree to which Washington has bit off more Empire than it can chew.
First, the Joint Chiefs Chairman tells Congress there's not enough gear to support President Bush's escalation of the war:
During testimony over the $481.4 billion fiscal 2008 defense budget, Pace said the military has about 41,000 armored vehicles in Iraq — fewer than will be needed "to cover all of the troops that are deploying."
Pace said it will be July before enough equipment is in place.
"The commanders on the ground have talked with the chief of staff of the Army and the commandant of the Marine Corps and have agreed that they will be able to share the assets on the ground so that no soldier or Marine will leave the compound without proper protection," Pace said when asked why more troops should be deployed immediately.
So, there aren't enough vehicles to "support the troops" in Iraq. But there's evidently no shortage of bureaucracy to support a whole new regional command for Africa — an AFRICOM to go along with CENTCOM, SOUTHCOM, and all the other COMs out there to fulfill Washington's role as overseer of the globe.
Given this sort of context, can't you just wait to see how an attack on Iran would play out?
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