Israel Matzav

US cutting deal with Iran because... its troops aren't battle ready?

A deeply disturbing report from the Washington Free Beacon's Adam Kredo.

Senior House lawmakers sounded the alarm over what they say is the U.S. military’s lack of preparedness for battle following a classified briefing Thursday on how deepening budget cuts are impacting troop readiness.

Continuing cuts to the nation’s defense budget have left U.S. troops underprepared for battle, according to House Armed Services Committee Chair Howard “Buck” McKeon (R., Calif.) and Readiness Subcommittee Chairman Rob Wittman (R., Va.), who briefed reporters following a classified briefing with top military brass.

The briefing—one in a series that will be held over the next weeks—was aimed at convincing members of Congress to fight against further defense cuts as next year’s federal budgeting process gets underway.

...

As billions of dollars are slashed from the defense budget under an agreement known as sequestration, the military is finding itself unable to train troops and retain key personnel.

“One of the things that really concerns me, all of these cuts we’re having, the first thing that gets hit is readiness,” said McKeon. “So the troops that are preparing for Afghanistan, remember we are still at war, are not getting the training they got a year ago.”

“And I’ve been to a lot of the bases and the training they really focus on is IEDs,” or improvised explosive devises, McKeon added. “That’s where we lose most of our lives, limbs over there. If they are cut short on some of that training it puts them more at risk.

Lawmakers have a duty to ensure that the troops are ready to deploy at a moment’s notice.

Over the weekend, we got word that the Senate is going to postpone consideration of new sanctions against Iran to let the Obama-Kerry 'diplomacy' have a chance to work. (The sanctions could still be introduced via the defense authorization bill). Am I the only one out there who suspects that the Senate's lack of appetite for something that the Obama administration claims could bring a war with Iran closer might have something to do with the fact that US troops are so unprepared for battle?

What could go wrong?

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Iran sanctions regime, Iranian nuclear threat, John Kerry, United States, United States Senate, US economy, US House of Representatives

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:17 PM