John Kerry Framingham - “US cannot sustain current troop levels”

In a recent campaign stop in Framingham, (Kerry "In Your Corner" tour) John Kerry spoke to approximately 100 supporters at a donut shop – stressing the need to win the White House over his own re-election. When queried by a supporter if there was a chance that troops would be coming home from Iraq, Kerry quipped “"The fact is that the United States cannot sustain the current troop levels" being deployed in Iraq.” (Reported by Politckerma.com blog).

Barack Obama and John Kerry are on the same page, along with the New York Times. In an editorial July 17 the Times talked about Obama’s “sensible plan” for withdrawing from Iraq, citing Obama’s statement that the US could not sustain troop levels (paraphrased). Note: This is the same editorial page that declined to publish an Editorial by Sen. John McCain due to the fact that it did not include “timelines, strategy, etc.” Text of McCain’s Editorial here.

The question now is where is Sen. Kerry getting his information? The answer: Admiral Mullen, Chairman, Joint Chief of Staffs testified before the Senate in April that he would like to add more troops in Afghanistan but would have to wait until troops were drawn down in Iraq. A transcript from the Department of Defense of a recent Press Briefing reiterates the Admirals concern regarding the escalation of violence in Afghanistan (Read entire transcript to get a feel for what the Press wants to know).

One has to ask then: "Why aren’t there enough troops to deploy?" It may have something to do with “Authorized Troop Levels”. Authorized troop levels are determined by the United States Budget. As authorized troop levels have risen for all branches (see pdf begins 1990's), recruitment goals have also been increased, as this is an all-volunteer military force some branches of the service may have difficulty meeting the ever-increasing authorized troop levels. That said, re-enlistments are at an all-time high, ( US Army Re-Enlistment Statistics), additionally enlistments are up
(Ventura County Star) due to increased incentives.

Of course, to try and explain authorized troop levels, budgets, and the like to the “masses” is “complicated”, and may not have the "desired" outcome. Therefore it is easier to quip one-liners that may not be quite factual in order to “stay on message”.

Note: Kerryvision.com (the Move-on.org site that supports Kerry, has not yet listed this Framingham event in it’s “Kerry in Massachusetts section”)