by James Glaser
July 19, 2005

After this long of America being in George Bush's War on Terrorism, it doesn't matter which side of the debate you are on, because we can all see that President Bush's promise of supporting the troops was a lie.

How many times have you heard George say that we have the finest military in the world and he is going to see that they have everything they need to do the job over in Iraq? Every time another American or group of Americans is killed in an unarmored vehicle in Iraq or Afghanistan, George Bush has told another lie. And the truth of the matter is, they are dying almost every day, and on the days no one dies, there are Americans who are maimed for life.

We spend hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars on our military, and after years of Bush and his administration promising the families of those fighting in Iraq that they will get the armor they need, nothing happens.

CBS News, July 17, 2005. "Every couple of weeks Karen Preston gets a telephone call from her son Ryan who is serving in Iraq with the Oregon National Guard. But Karen Preston has been worrying a lot ever since last summer when Ryan returned home on leave and showed her photos of the unarmored vehicles his unit was using for convoy duty in Iraq. Lacking proper steel plating to protect soldiers from enemy mines and rocket-propelled grenades, they had been jerry-rigged with plywood and sandbags. 'They call them cardboard coffins', Preston said."

Friday Headline... "US Soldier Dies After Iraq Car Bomb Attack Friday"

Baghdad, Iraq.... "The US military says three service members were killed during the weekend in Iraq."

It isn't just the lack of armor. CBS News reports "GIs Lack Armor, Radios, Bullets"

60 Minutes, the TV program, went to the Commanding General of the Oregon National Guard, General Ray Byrne, and showed him photos of his men's Humvees and trucks armored with plywood and sandbags and he said, "If you have nothing then that's better than nothing." When they asked this General when his troops would have the proper equipment he said, "I don't have that answer." He said most of the vehicles in Iraq arrived there without armor plating, because the Pentagon war planners didn't anticipate a long bloody insurgency.

We are talking about a war that has been going on for over two years with Americans getting killed and maimed every day. We are talking about a lack of equipment, that the Commander in Chief, George Bush, has promised the American people the troops will get.

Oregon guardsman Sean Davis told 60 Minutes that his unit was short on ammunition and night-vision goggles, and lacked radios to communicate with each other.

General Byrne says stories are true about families in Oregon having to go out and buy their sons and daughters radio equipment, body armor, GPS gear, computers, and night vision goggles that they weren't being issued. He said some units are using Vietnam era M-16 assault rifles and "There is also a bullet shortage for training." The General said these shortages bother him, but "there is nothing I can do about it."

George Bush is our Commander-in-Chief. He is the man who started this war and he is the man who promised the loved ones of our troops that he would get them the equipment they need. Everyday we have more killed and maimed because of this war and lack of necessary equipment figures in many of those losses.

Those against this war have said, "George Lied and Our Soldiers Died." Today every American, no matter if they are for the war or against it can say the same thing, because it is true. George Bush lied and our Soldiers, are dying.

We have the money to build the equipment our troops need. Heck, we probably have the equipment our troops need. We just don't have a Commander-in-Chief who cares enough for our men and women in uniform, to get them what they need. The promises have been going on for over two years. How many soldiers have to die before the American people wake up?