RE: http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,157285,00.html

This "miscounting" is not unusual. Our congress does it every year. In my very small part of the world; Congress "approves" personnel strength at one level (highly publicized) and then about a month later quietly appropriates funding for only 70 to 80% of that number they authorized a few weeks before.

Once again th U.S. military has an effective plan and the Iraqi government fails to follow through with any enthusiasm. This is a hard culture to work with but we have got to find ways of doing it.

Sounds political too me

A “miscount” of 22% or 17,000?? Must be that new math that was used. OR…sadly the ones responsible for counting these difficult numbers requested and received counting assistance from the likes of Ms. Nancy Polocy, Mr. Kennedy, Ms. Clinton, Mr. Edwards, Mr. Oboma and the other democrats who have refused to actively and freely support the United States military in this mission that our government committed to. There are no surprises here for me nor should there be for anyone else who reads this story of miscount. They will inflate these numbers and anything else to make the current administration look bad and to undermine what is being done to advance their cause. All the democrats have yet to do is to find a position for Jane Fonda and their circus will be complete.

quote:

Originally posted by F22Flighttester:
A “miscount” of 22% or 17,000?? Must be that new math that was used. OR…sadly the ones responsible for counting these difficult numbers requested and received counting assistance from the likes of Ms. Nancy Polocy, Mr. Kennedy, Ms. Clinton, Mr. Edwards, Mr. Oboma and the other democrats who have refused to actively and freely support the United States military in this mission that our government committed to. There are no surprises here for me nor should there be for anyone else who reads this story of miscount. They will inflate these numbers and anything else to make the current administration look bad and to undermine what is being done to advance their cause. All the democrats have yet to do is to find a position for Jane Fonda and their circus will be complete.

How exactly does a 22 percent miscount help Pelosi and company? Why are you blaming it on them, when the people doing the counting are our military and the Bush Administration et al. putting up the numbers? The counting has nothing to do with Congress's Dems and everything to do with this Administration's continuing attempt to paint a happy face on everything going on over there. It's the same as the "big story" yesterday about 6000 Sunnis signing up to go against the insurgents - whoop-tee-do - when that program's been going on for months.

This miscount sounds like someone, probably some Iraqi operators, were inflating the numbers in order to receive additional funding and arms for their ghost guards. You want to talk about support for "the mission"? The Bush Administration got a free pass on everything for years as Congress, both Repub and Democratic, tried to show support for the mission. It was years before some people in Congress remembered they had an obligation to demand accountability from the executive, and to demand that this Administration tell the American public what our goal is there, and how exactly they intend to accomplish it. It's not Congress's job to be an uncritical cheerleader for bankrupt ideas and policies built on lies, corruption, and misinformation.

It wasn't a miscount ... the audit merely compared the number standing post to the number of paychecks (or their cash equivalents) issued, which is probably where they got the 77K number from.

Given the situation, and the level of corruption that has gone on previously, that seems fairly mild, hardly rising to the levels of pallets of shrink wrapped twenties getting airdropped without any good accounting ... improvement is not to be despised, even if perfection is not attained in a war zone.

quote:

Originally posted by F22Flighttester:
A “miscount” of 22% or 17,000?? Must be that new math that was used. OR…sadly the ones responsible for counting these difficult numbers requested and received counting assistance from the likes of Ms. Nancy Polocy, Mr. Kennedy, Ms. Clinton, Mr. Edwards, Mr. Oboma and the other democrats who have refused to actively and freely support the United States military in this mission that our government committed to. There are no surprises here for me nor should there be for anyone else who reads this story of miscount. They will inflate these numbers and anything else to make the current administration look bad and to undermine what is being done to advance their cause. All the democrats have yet to do is to find a position for Jane Fonda and their circus will be complete.

Man, I hope this is satire.