Troops' Welfare

This is a story from the Post from a couple of days ago. It is about Bush and Cheney getting a briefing on how well the troops are doing. Or to put it more bluntly how close they are to the breaking point due to the the surge. There was no direct comments from Bush after the meeting but this was released later:

"It is my hope that we can put partisanship and politics behind us and commit to a common vision that will provide our troops what they need to succeed and secure our vital national interests in Iraq," the president said.

It is always fascinating to me the when Bush wants something there is this appeal to put partisanship aside. Yet it never seems to bother him when he and his administration is bashing someone when they oppose the administration position.

Also from the story this statement:

In anticipation of yesterday's meeting, which lasted about an hour and a half, Pentagon officials stressed that the chiefs would give their unvarnished opinions on such matters [the strain Iraq is putting on the troops]. Later, a senior Pentagon official said Bush "wanted to check on how the all-volunteer force is holding up under the strain of multiple, lengthy deployments."

I would have thought that the unvarnished truth would be told to the president on an on going basis and there wouldn't need to be a special meeting to discuss it. After all Bush always listens to what his generals have to say.