Akaka hits on readiness and military strain Posted by Max Bergmann

Iraq is destroying our ground forces - and subsequently weakening this country. 2 points come out of Akaka's questioning.

First, Petraeus admitted in his response that strain on the force played a role in advocating going back to 12 month deployments. Nothing shocking there, but when the President tries to spin the decline in deployment times, we should all remember that it was done much more out of necessity than due to events on the ground.

Second, Iraq has eliminated our strategic ground reserve and we now have no ability to respond to other contingencies such as in North Korea or to protect the homeland.