Wonder why....

Too few are recruited for key military jobs

"The military is falling far behind in its effort to recruit and re-enlist soldiers for some of the most vital combat positions in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a new government report.

"The report, completed by the Government Accountability Office, shows that the Army, National Guard and Marines signed up as few as a third of the Special Forces soldiers, intelligence specialists and translators that they had aimed for in the past year.

"The report found that in all, the military, which is engaged in the most demanding wartime recruitment effort since the 1970s, had failed to staff adequately fully 41 percent of its array of combat and noncombat ranks.

"The active-duty Army missed its target of 80,000 soldiers by 8 percent last year, but fell short of its goal for human intelligence experts by 35 percent.

"Officials with the accountability office, the independent investigative arm of Congress, found that some of the critical shortfalls had been masked by the overfilling of other positions in an effort to reach overall recruiting goals. As a result, the GAO report questioned whether Congress had been given an accurate picture by the Pentagon of the military's ability to maintain the force it needs for Iraq and Afghanistan."

My question: Where are all those Bush voters now? If W's little slam-dunk war on Iraq is such a peachy idea, why aren't the "true" patriots -- the ones who grasp W's "vision thing" -- marching off to earn their own war medals?

Is their idea of supporting the troops nothing more than attacking Democrats, equating gays with terrorists, slapping a yellow flag on the Hummer and diversifying their stock portfolios?

But to actually risk their own skins? Like their chosen leaders, they have other priorities. Their actions proclaim their philosophy: dying is for losers.

• More .... Few Recruited for Key Military Jobs