CNN.com - Army stretched to breaking point, report says - Jan 25, 2006

CNN.com - Army stretched to breaking point, report says - Jan 25, 2006

Good to see studies are being done to ascertain the shape of the army. Unfortunate to see CNN to imply for the most part that this is the final word and they and others are vincated in their predictions of army being stretched too far.

Question to CNN/MSM: Would one expect an author of a report to refute their own study findings during an interview?

I'm not discounting the findings, although I am discounting one studies findings. I do find that the author of the story

In case we have forgotten: "Rep. John Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat and Vietnam veteran, created a political storm last fall" (when we in the media finally chose to jump on his bandwagon at the time rather than jump on it many months earlier when he first started making these rumblings) "when he called for an early exit from Iraq, arguing that the Army was "broken, worn out" and fueling the insurgency by its mere presence. Administration officials have hotly contested that view."

"Krepinevich's analysis, while consistent with the conclusions of some outside the Bush administration, is in stark (italics mine) contrast with the public statements of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and senior Army officials."

Interesting choice of words if one writing an article for CNN considers the examples below as representative of the word "stark."

'"Army Secretary Francis Harvey said, "Today's Army is the most capable, best-trained, best-equipped and most experienced force our nation has fielded in well over a decade," he said, adding that recruiting has picked up."'

And Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld said, '"The Army is probably as strong and capable as it ever has been in the history of this country and are more experienced, more capable, better equipped than ever before."'

As far as the stark quotes above go, they are not negated by the report or anything as "reported" in the story. CNN/MSM should not always look to put one imagined side up against another imagined side; there is no enemy here (although looks like they would like the implication to be the SecDef), this is all part of a process of keeping up with the times.

STOP TWISTING