Politics – Page 5 – Antiwar.com Blog

Dear Friends of Antiwar.com:

A donor left this message in my Facebook Account,

Here’s an idea. We ask all our friends to switch their Facebook and Myspace profile images to the Anti-War.com logo on some upcoming anti-war day. Let’s say Thanksgiving day, so we can be thankful there aren’t even more wars.

At the same time, on the same day, we ask everyone to switch their profile status to just “Stop the wars.”

And, of course, if anyone asks, “which wars” the answer is “all of them.”

Instead of your head shot, please consider changing your avatar on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter on Thanksgiving Day to an Antiwar.com logo.

I know I’m thankful for all you champions of peace. Please email me at akeaton@antiwar.com for images and logos.

Peace,

Angela

Hat tip to Antiwar.com reader George Donnelly.

The talent pool of the military officers is shrinking :

The army is losing its best and brightest. West Point, the alma mater of American generals going back to Ulysses S. Grant, has seen a relentless rise in the number of officers who leave at the earliest opportunity. Whereas only about 35% of the West Point class of 2000 had quit after five years, for the class of 2001 the proportion rose to 46% and for the class of 2002 to 58%. Retention problems are particularly severe among captains and majors with 11-17 years’ experienceâ€”the potential future military leaders. The army currently has only half as many senior captains as it needs, and forecasts that it will suffer from a shortfall of 3,000 captains and majors (out of a cadre of 52,000) until at least 2013. The maximum age for recruits has been raised to 42, and fitness and educational standards have been lowered.

Last week’s Economist has a whole section on possible changes in American foreign policy after November 2008 .

Category: Politics

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Cost of War #31415