Free Republic

Two Vietnam combat veterans teamed up Wednesday to urge new limits on U.S. troop deployments to Iraq and to require that soldiers have proper training and equipment when sent into battle. Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., said the Iraq war is putting at risk the all-volunteer force that took nearly 30 years to build up after "the disaster of Vietnam." "We are abusing our all-voluntary force in a dangerous and irresponsible way," Hagel said. "We are abusing our people. We are abusing their families.

WASHINGTON - Senate Democrats working with a well-known Republican war critic are developing a resolution declaring that President Bush's troop build up in Iraq "is not in the national interest," said people familiar with the document. The resolution also would put the Senate on record as saying the U.S. commitment in Iraq "can only be sustained" with popular support among the American public and in Congress, according to officials who are knowledgeable about the draft. These officials would speak only on grounds of anonymity because the drafting is still under way. Sen. Chuck Hagel (news, bio, voting record), a Nebraska...