Our overextended military.(Insider Report)(return from duty in Iraq delayed)

"U.S. Army wives were in revolt yesterday after a promised withdrawal from Iraq for thousands of soldiers was postponed for a third time," reported the July 16th London Independent. At Fort Stewart, Georgia, home to the Third Infantry Division, Army wives "said they were planning to organize a protest march near the base and run a mass letter-writing campaign to Capitol Hill." Members of the Third Infantry Division were told that "the road home runs through Baghdad." After rolling into Baghdad, they were assigned pacification duties; their departure date has been repeatedly pushed back--from early July, to August, and then to September.

"We were initially told they would all be home by July 4 ... then we were told they would be out by August," recalls Kim Wallihan, whose husband is a pilot deployed in Iraq. "We just want them to set a date and stick by it or not set one. It is shocking that they have broken their promise again." With unbelievable arrogance and cruelty, the Third Division headquarters, according to the Independent, sent an e-mail message to the wives on July 14th warning them "not to write to politicians 'or speak to the media in a negative manner' about the postponement, otherwise they risked 'tarnishing the image' of their husbands."

At present, more than half of the U.S. Army's available manpower is tied up in occupying Iraq, and the Bush administration is preparing another UN-sponsored occupation in Liberia (see article on page 19). There are also ominous signs of a possible military ...