Ask the Joint Chiefs

Its telling that less then a week after Rumsfeld's last day that the Joint Chiefs are telling the President that a major departure from our current Iraq strategy is required. Telling because its hard to believe that they just though of it this week, but its the first time we've heard anything about current thinking among the Joint Chiefs in quite some time. For all Rumsfeld's talk about rebuilding and modernizing the military, in the end he'll be remembered for his autocratic and stubborn refusal to adept to the realities of the civil war raging in Iraq.

More pressing for the future is a somewhat ominous note at the end of this article:

A constant subtext in the meeting yesterday, and in the ongoing White House
review, is the Joint Chiefs' growing concern about the erosion of the U.S.
military's ability to deal with other crises around the world because of the
heavy commitment in Iraq and the stress on troops and equipment, said officials
familiar with the review. The chiefs planned to tell Bush of the significantly
increased risk to readiness in the event of a new emergency, rather than push
for a timeline to leave Iraq.

An undercurrent of the conflict over the last six months is the toll it is taking on our battle readiness, and the administration's unwillingness to acknowledge this. While this isn't new, to hear that the Chiefs have begun to press this issue would lead one to believe that the situation is more dire then we think.