As we approach the two-year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, here’s a by-the-numbers look at the dramatic impact the war has had on the U.S. military’s recruitment and readiness:

5: Number of years since the U.S. Army last failed to fill its monthly quota of volunteers sent to boot camp, which it did this month.
10: Number of years since the U.S. Marine Corps last missed its monthly recruitment goal, which it has done twice already this year.
11: Number of years since the U.S. National Guard last missed its annual recruitment goal, which it did in 2004.
27: Percent by which the U.S. Army missed its recruitment targets this month.
30: Percent by which the U.S. National Guard missed its recruitment targets in November and December 2004.
41: Drop in African American enlistments over the last four years, by percent.
1: Number of military reserve components that actually met their recruiting goals for the first four months of the current fiscal year; the other five reserve components did not.
3,900: Number of former soldiers belonging to a pool that can be mobilized only in a national emergency recently called up by the U.S. Army.
25: Increase, by percent, in the number of high school dropouts allowed to enlist in the Army thanks to newly lowered recruitment standards.
33: Increase, by percent, in the number of applicants who received the lowest acceptable scores on a service aptitude test now allowed to enlist in the Army thanks to newly lowered recruitment standards, by percent.

When the State Department released its annual Human Rights Report, there was a pall over the occasion. Our so-called “allies” in the war on terror were some of the countries guilty of the most heinous human rights abuses and were being governed — or under the dictatorial thumb — of leaders simultaneously heralded as “friends” by our President. Interrogation practices faulted in others were torture tactics endemic in our own system, both advocated for and defended by the individual now raised to the role of Attorney General. So, yesterday’s New York Times article confirming the Central Intelligence Agency’s long rumored use of rendition, a process by which suspected terrorists are transferred to foreign countries in order to be questioned, sadly came as little surprise.

But the White House continues to incorporate implicit justifications for such practices at the same time it aims to denounce them. For example, when asked about the NYT piece, White House Counsel Dan Bartlett first couches the statement:

“Well, as you know, Wolf, in the days and weeks and months after 9/11, it was important that we take a hard look at our entire apparatus — militarily, intelligence, diplomatic — to see how we were going to fight and win the war on terror.

Part of this is to make sure that we can deal with known terrorists, who may have information about live operations. And it’s critical that we’re able to them and have information [sic].”

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