News flash from the reality-based community

A.P. reports from the reality-based community (emphasis mine):

WASHINGTON - A majority of U.S. soldiers in
Iraq say morale is low, according to an Army report that finds psychological stress is weighing particularly heavily on National Guard and Reserve troops.

Still, soldiers' mental health has improved from the early months of the insurgency, and suicides have declined sharply, the report said. Also, substantially fewer soldiers had to be evacuated from Iraq for mental health problems last year.

So much for the complete and utter bullsh*t that the Cheney administration has been spewing, that the morale of the troops in Iraq is "gung-ho".

But, here's the kicker for me:

Only 55 percent of National Guard support soldiers said they have "real confidence" in their unit's ability to perform its mission, compared with 63 percent of active-duty Army support soldiers.

I wonder whether they bothered to ask the troops if they even understood their mission. Seriously though, only 63 percent of our troops have confidence that they can carry out their mission? That doesn't sound like a recipie for success. After all, these aren't highschool dropout draftees, these are people who are supposed to be the best qualified, best trained and best equipped troops on the planet. Yet, 37 percent of them don't have confidence in their ability to perform their mission. That is pathetic.

The article continues:

The thing that bothered soldiers the most, the latest assessment said, was the length of their required stay in Iraq. At the start of the war, most were deployed for six months, but now they go for 12 months.

Asked about this, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told a
Pentagon news conference that the Army's 12-month requirement is linked in part to its effort to complete a fundamental reorganization of fighting units.

"I've tried to get the Army to look at the length of tours and I think at some point down the road they will," he said.

Why does this inept war criminal still have a job? At some "point down the road"!? Is he serious? "Part of [the Army's] effort to complete a fundamental reorganization of fighting units"? We're supposed to believe this bullsh*t? Hey Rummy, how's that recruiting thing going?