Support the troops

And this is how that's done now:

A secret Pentagon study reportedly found that as many as 80 percent of Marines killed in Iraq from wounds to the upper body could have survived if they had had extra body armor.

"Such armor has been available since 2003, but until recently the Pentagon has largely declined to supply it to troops despite calls from the field for additional protection," The New York Times reported citing unnamed military officials.

"For the first time, the study by the military's medical examiner shows the cost in lives from inadequate armor, even as the Pentagon continues to publicly defend its protection of the troops," the report said.

Maybe if the administration spent less time attacking critics of the war (who question the validity of the reasons for going to war in the first place, and NOT the valor and loyalty of the armed forces both overseas and at home) and accusing them of betraying the troops in Iraq, they could spend more time and effort ensuring the safety of those troops.

Kind of like this:

The Army announced yesterday that it will soon start producing 230,000 sets of side armor plates and field them over the year to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, after a recently disclosed Pentagon study indicated that such plates could have helped prevent scores of troop deaths since 2003.

I despise this president's policies and political tactics. But I don't believe that he is inherently EVIL (not always, anyway) and wants to reduce defense spending by exhausting our military and financial resources. If he made an honest mistake in attacking Iraq, we should all acknowledge that our president is an asinine imbecile and try to find the best solution to the current problems. Now, what really is atrocious is the President's refusal to consider any alternatives and his disdain for critics of the war who offer legitimate arguments and ideas.

Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.

Thomas Jefferson said that. So, Mr. President, next time you call anybody who dares oppose the reasons for which we are in this war (or a lack thereof) you might want to consider that.

And on that note, some more Jon Stewart ("It's not a tumor!"):

President Bush tried to counter the growing criticism of his Iraq policy by gathering 13 former secretaries of defense and state... also on the guest list- Robert McNamara, defense secretary during the Vietnam era. The White House invited him to ensure that SOMEBODY in the room had f*cked up more than they had.

Happy Friday the Thirteenth!