Feeling safer?

One of the curious things about the Republican administration in the USA is its amazing contempt for the troops. Oh, the rhetoric about supporting the troops is there, the cheap words and hot air, but actual money for them? Nope. The soldiers in Iraq can't get basic equipment -- including ammunition -- and are reduced to buying their own body armour from civilian gun shops back home and having it posted to them, and scrounging for scrap metal to harden vehicles. And let's not forget the spoiled food and contaminated water provided to the troops in Iraq by Dick Cheney's baby, Halliburton.

Nothing's too bad for our boys!

And now a report that, apart from the troops in Iraq and Afganistan, the US Army has no combat-ready units, neither regular nor reserves. The Army is already warning that, in order to provide troops for the "Surge" in Iraq, they're going to have to strip equipment from troops in Korea and National Guard units in the US.

So, all you Republicans out there, the few of you still on Planet Earth: are you feeling safer yet?