“But let’s be honest about stop-loss. This is sort of a myth of the left.”
— Author Lt. Col. Ralph Peters, 4/10/08

VERSUS

“Lieutenant General James D. Thurman, deputy chief of staff for operations, said he hoped that wartime demand for troops will decline enough by around the fall of next year to end ‘stop-loss.’ He said there are more than 12,000 currently serving under the practice — an action that critics have called a backdoor draft.
— AP, 4/22/08

According to Pentagon records, “the Army has accelerated its policy of involuntary extensions of duty” — known as “stop-loss” —  “to bolster its troop levels, despite Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ order last year to limit it.” Since May 2007, “the number of soldiers forced to remain in the Army rose 43% to 12,235 in March.”

69 percent: Americans who disapprove of the job Bush is doing. “The approval rating matches the low point of his presidency, and the disapproval sets a new high for any president since Franklin Roosevelt.”

(I guess those 69% of Americans are the “anti-war left fringe crowd” yeah, whatever)

Roxanne Walker

www.americanprogressaction.org