Press Release
12/20/06Third Way Applauds Bush Comments on Increasing Size of the Military
Washington – In an interview yesterday with The Washington Post, President Bush admitted that “we do need to increase our troops, the Army, the Marines,” and he told the paper that he intends to increase the end-strength of the “stressed” military to meet future needs. Third Way President Jonathan Cowan today said in a statement: “this is a welcome development, but it took far too long for the President to arrive at a conclusion that Third Way, military leaders, outside experts, and some in Congress reached years ago.”
In early May 2005, Third Way issued a report called Boots on the Ground: Increasing the Size of the Army to Meet the Missions of the 21st Century. In that report, the group quoted multiple experts of all stripes who were calling for an increase in Army end-strength. Even active duty leaders were willing to speak out; for example, Army Chief of Staff General Peter Schoomaker, said “I’m going to take a little risk here and I’m going to tell you that intuitively, I think we need more people. I mean, it’s just that simple.” The report called for an increase in Army end-strength of 100,000 troops.
On the same day that Third Way released that report, a number of leaders in Congress, including Senators Lieberman, Clinton, Reed, Bill Nelson and Salazar, along with Representatives Tauscher and Udall, introduced “The Army Relief Act of 2005,” calling for a permanent authorized end-strength increase of 100,000 troops. The bill was ignored by the President and his allies in Congress. Indeed, as the Post noted today, the President was still publicly rejecting calls for an increase in troops as recently as June 2006.
Now, the situation has changed, with a cascade of voices demanding a troop increase, General Schoomaker increasing his alarm at the situation and Colin Powell noting that “the active Army is about broken.”
“The President is late in coming to this conclusion, but better late than never,” Cowan said. “Visionary leaders in Congress have been pushing for this increase for a year and a half. We hope and expect that the President will work with the new congressional leadership to make this troop increase a top priority and pass legislation early next year to get this underway.”
Contact: Matt Bennett (202) 775-3768 x212