Back in the day, when America stood tall and served as a moral and economic beacon to the Free World, when American Presidents wanted a war, we had the moxy to call upon our own forces to create the threat we needed to justify the wars we wanted.
Now, in the age of the streamlined, "right-sized", "transformed" military dreamed of by Donald Rumsfeld and permitted by an AWOL American Congress, we have apparently outsourced even our sabre rattling, even sabre rattling in the most dangerous military and economic cauldron of the entire world.
==============================
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080425/ap_on_bi_ge/oil_prices
Oil prices up on word US ship fired on boats in Persian Gulf
NEW YORK - Oil prices rose sharply Friday on news that a ship under contract to the U.S. Defense Department fired warning shots at two boats in the Persian Gulf. Retail gas prices as expected rose further into record territory, nearing $3.60 a gallon.
===============================
America, if we're going to let a President who's already losing TWO wars launch a THIRD that will melt the entire world economy down in MINUTES, don't you at least want the satisfaction of knowing a full time employee of the Army, Navy, Air Force or Marines actually fired the shot instead of some $200/hour mercenary working for Plausible Deniability Cannon Fodder LLC?
Where is the leadership in putting independent contractors in charge of gunships scotting around the most dangerous waters in the entire world when our economy is already grinding to a halt due to uncertainty over energy supplies? If our military is truly so worn out that we don't have enough patrol ships in the Navy to surveil the most critical waters for our entire nation's economy, why hasn't the Bush Administration asked the American people to pony up to replenish our key military capabilities?
