ProgressOhio

"We just believe our heroes deserve to be treated better than that."

WASHINGTON (AFP) — US Defense Secretary Robert Gates ordered a review of the handling of the remains of US war dead and apologized after learning that some were cremated in a commercial facility that also cremates pets, the Pentagon said.

Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said there was no evidence that any US servicemember was cremated in an incinerator used for pets.

But Gates believed that the use of a commercial facility that cremated both humans and pets, albeit in separate incinerators, was "insensitive and entirely inappropriate for the dignified treatment of our fallen," Morrell said.

"The families of the fallen have the secretary's deepest apology," he added.

Watch it:

Post-War Suicides May Exceed Combat Deaths, U.S. Says

The number of suicides among veterans of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan may exceed the combat death toll because of inadequate mental health care, the U.S. government's top psychiatric researcher said.

Community mental health centers, hobbled by financial limits, haven't provided enough scientifically sound care, especially in rural areas, said Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland. He briefed reporters today at the American Psychiatric Association's annual meeting in Washington.

Insel echoed a Rand Corporation study published last month that found about 20 percent of returning U.S. soldiers have post- traumatic stress disorder or depression, and only half of them receive treatment. About 1.6 million U.S. troops have fought in the two wars since October 2001, the report said. About 4,560 soldiers had died in the conflicts as of today, the Defense Department reported on its Web site.

Read the whole story here.

(CBS) Pat Tillman was a heroic face of the war on terror - an NFL star who left behind a $3.6 million contract and his new wife to fight for his country after the attacks of Sept. 11. When he died in Afghanistan on April 22, 2004, the Army told his family he'd been killed by enemy fire after courageously charging up a hill to protect his fellow Army Rangers.

But as Katie Couric reports, that story didn't hold up. He had really been killed by friendly fire, shot accidentally by his fellow soldiers.

For the past four years, his family, led by his mother Mary, has been searching for answers about what really happened, beginning the day she heard the news from Pat Tillman's wife Marie. 

Crooks ad Liars points out:

One part that stands out is when Couric asks Pete Geren, the new Secretary of the Army, about eyewitness statements that had been altered to falsely show that Tillman had been engaged with the enemy at the time of his death. He replied, “Well, that’s one of the questions that we will never completely answer.” That’s a telling statement because the Bush administration has exerted executive privilege over “certain papers relating to discussion of the friendly-fire shooting” because they claim they would “implicate Executive Branch confidentiality interests.” Last August, when pressed directly about it, President Bush avoided making any promise to ever come clean about what really happened.

Watch it:

Speaking in Cleveland earlier today, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) defended President Bush, saying he should not be held responsible for the “Mission Accomplished” banner that was visible aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln when Bush declared that “major combat operations in Iraq have ended” on May 1, 2003:

“Do I blame him for that specific banner? I can’t,” McCain said. “But I do say that statements are made, ‘a few dead-enders,’ ‘last throes,’ those are, as opposed to the banner, direct statements which were contradicted by the facts on the ground.”

McCain then said of the banner: “I thought it was wrong at the time.” But while the White House has actually acknowledged making an error, McCain himself used the term “mission accomplished” when talking about the Iraq war on at least two occasions in 2003:

– “Their morale could not be higher. This is a mission accomplished. They know how much influence Saddam Hussein had on the Iraqi people, how much more difficult it made to get their cooperation.” [This Week, ABC, 12/14/03]

– During an appearance on Fox News, host Neil Cavuto said, “many argue the conflict isn’t over.” McCain answered, “Well, then why was there a banner that said mission accomplished on the aircraft carrier? Look, the — I have said a long time that reconstruction of Iraq would be a long, long, difficult process, but the conflict — the major conflict is over, the regime change has been accomplished.” [FOX, Your World With Neil Cavuto, 6/11/03]

Watch it:

Here, then, is a look back on John McCain's words on the mission accomplished in Iraq:

On the Run-Up to War

"Look, we're going to send young men and women in harm's way and that's always a great danger, but I cannot believe that there is an Iraqi soldier who is going to be willing to die for Saddam Hussein, particularly since he will know that our objective is to remove Saddam Hussein from power."
John McCain, September 15, 2002.

"But the fact is, I think we could go in with much smaller numbers than we had to do in the past. But any military man worth his salt is going to have to prepare for any contingency, but I don't believe it's going to be nearly the size and scope that it was in 1991."
John McCain, September 15, 2002.

"He's a patriot who has the best interests of his country at heart."
John McCain, on Ahmed Chalabi, 2003.

On Saddam's Weapons of Mass Destruction

"Proponents of containment claim that Iraq is in a "box." But it is a box with no lid, no bottom, and whose sides are falling out. Within this box are definitive footprints of germ, chemical and nuclear programs."
John McCain, February 13, 2003.

"I remain confident that we will find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq."
John McCain, June 11, 2003.

On Being Greeted as Liberators

"Absolutely. Absolutely."
John McCain, asked by Chris Matthews, "you believe that the people of Iraq or at least a large number of them will treat us as liberators?" March 12, 2003.

"Not only that, they'll be relieved that he's not in the neighborhood because he has invaded his neighbors on several occasions."
John McCain, asked by Chris Matthews, "And you think the Arab world will come to a grudging recognition that what we did was necessary?" March 12, 2003.

"There's no doubt in my mind that we will prevail and there's no doubt in my mind, once these people are gone, that we will be welcomed as liberators."
John McCain, March 24, 2003.

On a Rapid Victory and Mission Accomplished

"I think the victory will be rapid, within about three weeks."
John McCain, January 28, 2003.

"It's clear that the end is very much in sight...It won't be long. It, it'll be a fairly short period of time."
John McCain, April 9, 2003.

"Well, then why was there a banner that said mission accomplished on the aircraft carrier?"
John McCain, responding to assertion by Fox News' Neil Cavuto that "many argue the conflict isn't over," June 11, 2003.

"I have said a long time that reconstruction of Iraq would be a long, long, difficult process, but the conflict -- the major conflict is over, the regime change has been accomplished, and it's very appropriate."
John McCain, June 11, 2003.

"I'm confident we're on the right course."
John McCain, March 7, 2004.

"We're either going to lose this thing or win this thing within the next several months."
John McCain, November 12, 2006.

"My friends, the war will be over soon, the war for all intents and purposes although the insurgency will go on for years and years and years."
John McCain, February 25, 2008.

On the Safe Streets of Baghdad

"[There] there "are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods, today."
John McCain, after touring a Baghdad market wearing a bulletproof vest and guarded by "100 American soldiers, with three Blackhawk helicopters, and two Apache gunships overhead, April 1, 2007.

"There's problems in America with safe neighborhoods as we well know."
John McCain, March 8, 2008.

On President Bush and His Team

"We are very fortunate that our president in these challenging days can rely on the counsel of a man who has demonstrated time and again the resolve, experience, and patriotism that will be required for success and the hard-headed clear thinking necessary to prevail in this global fight between good and evil."
John McCain, on Dick Cheney, July 16, 2004.

"I think he strengthened our national defenses. I think he has a good team around him."
John McCain, on President Bush, September 3, 2004.

"I said no. My answer is still no. No confidence."
John McCain, on whether he had confidence in Bush Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, December 15, 2004.

On the Non-Existent Alliance Between Al Qaeda and Iran

"But Al Qaeda is there, they are functioning, they are supported in many times, in many ways by the Iranians."
John McCain, February 28, 2008.

"As you know, there are al Qaeda operatives that are taken back into Iran, given training as leaders, and they're moving back into Iraq."
John McCain, March 17, 2008.

"[Iranian operatives are] "taking al-Qaeda into Iran, training them and sending them back."
John McCain, March 18, 2008.

"[It is] common knowledge and has been reported in the media that al-Qaeda is going back into Iran and receiving training and are coming back into Iraq from Iran, that's well known. And it's unfortunate."
John McCain, March 18, 2008.

"Al Qaeda and Shia extremists -- with support from external powers such as Iran -- are on the run but not defeated."
McCain campaign statement, March 19, 2008.

"To think that I would have some lack of knowledge about Sunni and Shia after my eighth visit and my deep involvement in this issue is a bit ludicrous."
John McCain, March 19, 2008.

"Do you still view Al Qaeda in Iraq as a major threat? Certainly not an obscure sect of the Shiites overall…"
John McCain, questioning General David Petraeus, April 8, 2008.

On a Permanent American Military Presence in Iraq

"We cannot keep our forces indefinitely staged in the region. Were we to attempt again to contain Saddam, we would eventually have to withdraw them. The world is full of dangers and, more likely than not, we will need some of those brave men and women to face them down."
John McCain, February 13, 2003.

"We have had troops in South Korea for 60 years and nobody minds."
John McCain, June 7, 2007.

"Make it a hundred."
John McCain, told that President Bush had said American troops could remain in Iraq for 50 years, January 3, 2008.

"I asked McCain about his 'hundred years' comment, and he reaffirmed the remark, excitedly declaring that U.S. troops could be in Iraq for 'a thousand years' or 'a million years,' as far as he was concerned."
David Corn, January 3, 2008.

"The U.S. could have a military presence anywhere in the world for a long period of time."
John McCain, February 20, 2008.

From the always great Perspectives Blog

BAGHDAD — The killings of three U.S. soldiers in separate attacks in Baghdad pushed the American death toll for April up to 47, making it the deadliest month since September.

One soldier died when his vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb. The other died of wounds sustained when he was attacked by small-arms fire, the military said Wednesday.

Both incidents occurred Tuesday in northwestern Baghdad. A third soldier died in a roadside bombing Tuesday night in the east of the capital, the military said.

The statement did not give a more specific location. But the eastern half of Baghdad includes embattled Sadr City and other neighborhoods that have been the focus of intense combat between Shiite militants and U.S.-Iraqi troops for more than a month.

In all, at least 4,059 members of the U.S. military have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Cross Posted From:

Today at noon, some big-name Democrats, including Senator Jim Webb and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, will be leading a press conference on the steps of the Capitol - and they'll be joined by some of Congress's leading Republicans, including Senators Chuck Hagel and John Warner. With the political situation so polarized this election year, it's like seeing players from the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox sit down for Sunday afternoon tea.

What has brought them together? A commitment to ensuring that troops coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan get the chance to go to college.

After World War II, the "GI Bill" ensured that more than two million combat veterans could get a college education. Economists have said this legislation rebuilt the country after five years of war. Now, however, the GI Bill pays only a fraction of the cost of a four-year college - and today's veterans just aren't getting the same readjustment opportunities afforded to the Greatest Generation.

Read The Full Story Here or you can sign the petition to support our troops here.

Presidential hopeful wants to keep troops from leaving military for a college education

WASHINGTON - Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has suggested he would oppose a bipartisan measure by Virginia Sen. Jim Webb to expand college tuition benefits for military veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.

McCain told reporters Monday he was working on alternative legislation aimed at ensuring that troops do not leave the military earlier than planned to go to college.

McCain echoed the concern voiced by some in the Defense Department who worry that the promise of full college tuition could entice many troops to leave the military sooner than they otherwise might at a time of war.

McCain is saying that we can't keep troops in Iraq for 100 years if we offer them what we offered WW II veterans after 4 years of service.

"So I am giving my final warning ...... to the Iraqi government ...... to take the path of peace and abandon violence against its people," al-Sadr said. "If the government does not refrain ...... we will declare an open war until liberation." - Muqtada al-Sadr

BAGHDAD (AP) — Anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr gave a "final warning" to the government Saturday to halt a U.S.-Iraqi crackdown against his followers or he would declare "open war until liberation."

A full-blown uprising by al-Sadr, who led two rebellions against U.S.-led forces in 2004, could lead to a dramatic increase in violence in Iraq at a time when the Sunni extremist group al-Qaida in Iraq appears poised for new attacks after suffering severe blows last year.

Al-Sadr's warning appeared on his Web site as Iraq's Shiite-dominated government claimed success in a new push against Shiite militants in the southern city of Basra. Fighting claimed 14 more lives in Sadr City, the Baghdad stronghold of al-Sadr's Mahdi Army.

Fighting in Sadr City and the crackdown in Basra are part of a government campaign against followers of al-Sadr and Iranian-backed Shiite splinter groups that the U.S. has identified as the gravest threat to a democratic Iraq.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, also a Shiite, has ordered al-Sadr to disband the Mahdi Army, Iraq's biggest Shiite militia, or face a ban from politics.

In the statement, al-Sadr lashed back, accusing the government of selling out to the Americans and branding his followers as criminals.

Al-Sadr, who is believed to be in Iran, said he had tried to defuse tensions last August by declaring a unilateral truce, only to see the government respond by closing his offices and "resorting to assassinations."

"So I am giving my final warning ... to the Iraqi government ... to take the path of peace and abandon violence against its people," al-Sadr said. "If the government does not refrain ... we will declare an open war until liberation."

Watch It:

Senator Joe Biden joined Keith Olbermann on Tuesday’s Countdown to talk about his foreign policy speech today, in which he knocks away John McCain’s ever-changing rationales for staying in Iraq and his embrace of the failed Iraq policies of George Bush. Biden notes the ongoing Democratic primary battle between Obama and Clinton, but makes it very clear that Democrats are more than willing to engage him on in a debate about Iraq and national security.

Biden, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, tells Keith that regardless of how Senator McCain meant his 100 years in Iraq statement, the American people are against it and it sends the wrong message to the people of the Middle East. Americans don’t want permanent bases in Iraq and as Biden puts it, it feeds into the theory that we’re only there to control their oil:

In 1944, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the original GI Bill, ensuring that eight million combat veterans coming home from Germany and Japan would be able to afford an education. Called the “Servicemen’s Readjustment Act,” the World War II GI Bill covered tuition, fees, and books, and gave veterans a living stipend while they were in school. Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush, Senators Bob Dole and Patrick Moynihan, and authors Norman Mailer and Frank McCourt all relied on the GI Bill.

Experts have argued that the GI Bill “reinvented America” after a half-decade of war. Indeed, a 1988 Congressional study showed that every dollar spent on educational benefits under the original GI Bill added seven dollars to the national economy in terms of productivity, consumer spending, and tax revenue. But in his signing statement, President Roosevelt spoke more simply:

“[The GI Bill] gives emphatic notice to the men and women in our armed forces that the American people do not intend to let them down.”

It seems that "Military McCain" who has recently made numerous gaffes about who we are fighting in Iraq  demonstrated today in his press event with the AP that he also doesn't know what General David Petraeus' command and role is:  

The Army Times Reports:

Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain of Arizona may not have been paying the closest of attention last week during hearings on the Bush administration’s Iraq policy.

Speaking Monday at the annual meeting of the Associated Press, McCain was asked whether he, if elected, would shift combat troops from Iraq to Afghanistan to intensify the search for al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

“I would not do that unless Gen. [David] Petraeus said that he felt that the situation called for that,” McCain said, referring to the top U.S. commander in Iraq.

Petraeus, however, made clear last week that he has nothing to do with the decision.

Testifying last week before four congressional committees, including the Senate Armed Services Committee on which McCain is the ranking Republican, Petraeus said the decision about whether troops could be shifted from Iraq to Afghanistan was not his responsibility because his portfolio is limited to the multi-national force in Iraq.

Decisions about Afghanistan would be made by others, he said.

ProgressOhio.org Launches New Website on Cost of War in Columbus

McCain's Iraq Tax Leaves Ohio's Working Families Behind

On eve of tax deadline, Web project shows Columbus families, taxpayers lose key protections, opportunities because of endless war

Columbus - As the 2007 tax filing deadline loomed, citizen watchdog groups today announced the launch of a website showing Columbus taxpayers and families are paying a steep price and making costly trade-offs because of the endless Iraq war.

"For five years, the Bush Administration has led Columbus taxpayers down the wrong track. Instead of investing in middle-class families, he has emptied our treasury and continued to put the lives of our brave troops at risk for a wrong-headed war that was begun on false pretenses. The Bush-McCain war in Iraq has also been a war on Ohians," ProgressOhio.org Executive Director Brian Rothenberg said. "Their misguided policies have made our nation weaker, not stronger.

According to the National Priorities Project, the Iraq war has cost Ohio taxpayers more than $2.1 billion in Fiscal Year 2007. The war has claimed the lives of more than 4,000 U.S. troops, including over 140 Ohio service members.

Taxpayers in Columbus, Ohio will pay $279.9 million for the cost of the Iraq War in FY 2007. For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:

99,194 People with Health Care -or-

313,428 Homes with Renewable Electricity -or-

6,337 Public Safety Officers -or-

4,285 Music and Arts Teachers -or-

32,290 Scholarships for University Students -or-

25 New Elementary Schools -or-

2,610 Affordable Housing Units -or-

168,296 Children with Health Care -or-

43,572 Head Start Places for Children -or-

4,460 Elementary School Teachers

If we phased the troops out of Iraq by this October, Columbus, Ohio Taxpayers would save a projected $283.5 million.

If reinvested in the community, this money would provide health insurance for 10,675 Columbus children, 2 years tuition at OSU for every high school senior in the Columbus Public School system and cover the entire annual budget for the Columbus Police Department.

For more information the public can visit: www.nationalpriorities.org

Robert Lopez served 8 years in our military, fighting in Iraq as a tank commander.  He was told he'd get his whole education bill paid for when he got out of the service, but like so many others, Mr. Lopez has faced the bleak reality of a government that has turned its back on its veterans.

That is why Senators Jim Webb and Chuck Hagel proposed the new GI Bill, which would bring back WWII-style standards of providing vets with full tuition, room and board.  And that is why 51 senators have signed on, including 9 Republicans like John Warner, giving this GI Bill tremendous bipartisan support.

But it isn't enough.  Faced with unprecedented filibusters, the only way to ensure Senate passage of the GI Bill is to get 60 co-sponsors. So far, John McCain has refused.  The same McCain who insists he supports our troops.  The same McCain who is voting lockstep with the Bush administration (who have also resisted this bill).  We need to get John McCain to lead — to sign now and signal to other Republican leaders that we should be strongly behind our vets.

Robert Lopez thinks John McCain ought to stand in his shoes to know how difficult it is to be a vet and have to pay staggering education costs.  THIS is your call to arms.  Pass the video along and implore your friends to sign the petition.

Vote Vets, WesPAC, and Brave New Films feel passionately about giving our veterans the support they rightly deserve.  Our government owes our troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan the opportunity to receive full educational benefits.  These patriots have fought hard for our government; it's time our government started fighting hard for them.

WASHINGTON — President Bush said Thursday that the senior United States commander in Iraq could “have all the time he needs” before reducing American forces there any further, but he promised shorter tours for troops and longer breaks for them at home.

Just 6 months ago McCain claimed such a reduction in combat tours, when proposed by Senator Jim Webb, would "emasculate" the oh-so-successful surge, "could easily bring about ... defeat" and lead to "chaos and genocide" in the region. 

Senate Blocks Bill on Iraq Combat Tours

By William Branigin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 19, 2007; 6:34 PM

The Senate today turned back a measure to require that U.S. troops be given at least as much time at home as they spend on combat tours, shelving an amendment that supporters said was aimed at easing the strain of prolonged military deployments but that opponents argued was intended to undercut the Bush administration's Iraq war policy.

...

But McCain, a leading opponent of the Webb amendment, said it "would do more harm than good" and would force the military to withdraw troops from Iraq more rapidly than currently planned.

"This goes to the heart of the surge that is showing success in Anbar province, in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq," he said in debate on the Senate floor. "The effect of this amendment would be to emasculate this surge."

...Calling U.S. forces "overstressed . . . but not defeated," he argued that the amendment "could easily bring about their defeat" and lead to "chaos and genocide" in the region.

We await the Straight Talk condemnation of President Bush’s latest defeatist move from the Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting.

“We’re no longer staring into the abyss of defeat, and we can now look ahead to the genuine prospect of success,”  --John McCain 4/8/08

We have been embroiled in Iraq five years. We have suffered 4,000 dead and 30,000 to 60,000 wounded, and the people like John McCain who sent us into this war keep telling us to be patient.

Same as it ever was . . . 

Quotes from Vietnam:

In 1955, William Bruckner, the U.S. Secretary of the Army, told us: "With a little more training, the Vietnamese army will be the equal of any other army in the world in its ability to combat the enemy and will be able to defend itself against the Viet Minh if attacked."

In 1962, U.S. Army General Barksdale Hamlett told us: "The training, transportation, and logistical support we are providing in Vietnam has succeeded in turning the tide against the Vietcong."

In 1963, General Paul Harkins told us: "Victory is in sight."

In 1965, Walt Rostow of the U.S. Department of State, told us: "It looks very good. The Vietcong are going to collapse within weeks. Not months but weeks."

In 1965, Ronald Reagan told us: "It's silly talking about how many years we will have to spend in the jungles of Vietnam when we could pave the whole country and put parking stripes on it and still be home by Christmas."

In 1966, Senator Everett Dirksen told us: "Hold on a little longer and pretty soon we will have them on their knees at the bargaining table."

In 1969, Admiral John S. McLain told us: "We have the enemy licked now. We have the initiative in all areas. My optimism is based on hard military realism."

In 1969, Melvin Laird, U.S. Secretary of Defense, told us: "I think we've certainly turned the corner."

In 1969, journalist William Buckley told us: "The enemy is reeling from successive disasters. We are, in fact, winning the war."

In 1972, President Richard M. Nixon told us: "Militarily and politically, Hanoi is losing."

Our Vietnam War lasted 16 years, from 1959 to 1975, at a cost of 84,000 American soldiers.

John McCain is fine with 100 years (he's said "make it 1000 or even 10,000") and has apparently given no thought to just how American troops will stay in Iraq without incurring casualties.  15 more dead just this week.

Just like those with their predictions about Vietnam all proven wrong, John McCain has no credibility on Iraq whatsoever.

Some quotes from John McCain on Iraq:

McCain, in December 2003:

"This is a mission accomplished. They know how much influence Saddam Hussein had on the Iraqi people, how much more difficult it made to get their cooperation."

McCain, in March 2004:

"I'm confident we're on the right course."

McCain, in December 2005:

"I do think that progress is being made in a lot of Iraq. Overall, I think a year from now, we will have made a fair amount of progress if we stay the course. If I thought we weren't making progress, I'd be despondent."

McCain, in September 2007:

"Americans are sad, they're frustrated, they're angry, and they want out. And I understand that; there were four years of failure under Rumsfeld. As you know, I spoke out early on, in November of 2003, saying that strategy was doomed to failure."

McCain, in February 2008:

"Iraq War will be over soon".

 McCain in April 2008:

 “We’re no longer staring into the abyss of defeat, and we can now look ahead to the genuine prospect of success,”

"Our military will stay as long as the stability of Iraq requires, and only as long as their presence is needed and requested by the Iraqi government."
-- President Bush, 6/28/04

VERSUS

"The [Iraqi] prime minister told Bush during a 20-minute telephone conversation on Wednesday that Iraqi security forces are capable of carrying out their duties and U.S. troops should be pulled out as the situation permits."
-- AP, 4/10/08

Testifying to lawmakers on Capitol Hill this week, Gen. David Petraeus, commanding general of Multi-National Force in Iraq, recommended that this July, the United States "pause" the draw down of U.S. troops in Iraq for at least 45 days to assess the security situation there. President Bush has now reportedly accepted that recommendation.

However, the Associated Press reports today that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki "disagreed with Petraeus' proposal" to delay U.S. troop withdrawals, "citing the growing capabilities of Iraq's own security forces.

Indeed, Bush has previously indicated his enthusiasm for Maliki's leadership and trust in his judgement saying he had seen "the strength of his character," that Maliki is a "strong leader," and a "good guy" with "deep determination." 

The Progress Report

WASHINGTON — U.S. soldiers are committing suicide at record levels, young officers are abandoning their military careers, and the heavy use of forces in Iraq has made it harder for the military to fight conflicts that could arise elsewhere.

Unprecedented strains on the nation's all-volunteer military are threatening the health and readiness of the troops.

While the spotlight Wednesday was on congressional hearings with the U.S. ambassador and commanding general for Iraq, Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Richard Cody was in another hearing room explaining how troops and their families are being taxed by long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the prospect of future years of conflict in the global war on terror.

"That marathon has become an enduring relay and our soldiers continue to run _ and at the double time," Cody said. "Does this exhaust the body and mind of those in the race, and those who are ever present on the sidelines, cheering their every step? Yes. Has it broken the will of the soldier? No."

And it's not just the people that are facing strains.

Military depots have been working in high gear to repair or rebuild hundreds of thousands of pieces of equipment _ from radios to vehicles to weapons _ that are being overused and worn out in harsh battlefield conditions. The Defense Department has asked for $46.5 billion in this year's war budget to repair and replace equipment damaged or destroyed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Both the Army and Marine Corps have been forced to take equipment from non-deployed units and from pre-positioned stocks to meet needs of those in combat _ meaning troops at home can't train on the equipment.

National Guard units have only an average of 61 percent of the equipment needed to be ready for disasters or attacks on the U.S., Missouri Democrat Ike Skelton lamented at Wednesday's hearing of the House Armed Services Committee.

Cody and his Marine counterpart, Gen. Robert Magnus, told the committee they're not sure their forces could handle a new conflict if one came along.