Tipping point

"Balance" by Quincy Anderson.










I know I've talked about Kimberly at Mother of All Blogs before. If you aren't reading her, you should be. Her most recent post is about the memorial service held for fallen Marines. Talk about heart wrenching. Read it and weep, then bookmark, MOAB.

"Monday, for the second time in a matter of days, I was amid hundreds of Marines standing straight and tall in a perfect alignment. Only this time, it was to say goodbye. I had wanted to stay with the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines for this service, to witness how they would remember the men who lost their lives during the ambush of six snipers Aug. 1, a suicide car bombing that took one in Hit, and the attack of the amphibious assault vehicle by triple-stacked mines that claimed 14 on Aug. 3."

She interviews one of the Marines, Sgt. Francis about the loss of his best friend, Sgt. Bradley:

Francis segued to the topic of troop strength in the region, unprompted. I’m finding it’s a concern for most, these days. Maybe if there had been more Marines on the ground they would have been able to find that mine before the amtrac Bradley was riding in did. I don’t care if I get in trouble for saying it, he said. If we’re going to do this, then we need to do it. "Reduction of troops is not going to help us," Francis said.

Sgt. Francis, you shouldn't get in trouble for saying that, you should get a medal.

Now Dinah is no military expert, she didn't serve in the military (but she wanted to), she'd join today if she could. She has seriously thought about getting a job with Halliburton/KBR. She still might. Her expertise lends itself more to fashion and style but she has other skills that would be handy in the field. For example, one of these. LONG STORY SHORT, she has come to the conclusion that we don't need to be withdrawing troops, we need to be adding troops. We need to bite the bullet and shut down the flow of the terrorists cannon fodder from Syria and Iran and according to Lanchester's Law, the only way we can do that is by increasing the number of troops. (And I never thought I would agree with Chuck Hagel on anything.)
Here's some more troop strength talk:

U.S. may bump up troop strength in Iraq

Armed Forces Troop Strength as of June 30 2005.

Bush downplays troop reduction by spring.

No decision on troop strength.

Troop cut talk dismissed.

Army says, "Four More Years."