Jim Inhofe: “as the war in Iraq demonstrated, our troops are the finest in the world. Through their mastery of precision-guided…”

“as the war in Iraq demonstrated, our troops are the finest in the world. Through their mastery of precision-guided weapons, they minimized casualties of noncombatants and effectively contained war's inevitable destruction. In just 21 days, they liberated Iraq, a country almost the size of California, from a brutal tyranny. Many factors contributed to the success of the Iraq war. In my view, the most important--and this, I believe, is true of any war--was training. To be strong in battle, soldiers must train as they fight. On U.S. training ranges, our troops engage in highly realistic, combat ready exercises, preparing them to fight and protect themselves in battle. This is what they deserve. But gradually, those readiness exercises--so critical to the military's training mission--are steadily being constrained and inhibited. Slowly, but surely, training simulations bear little connection with the true-to-life. The cause is straightforward but very disturbing: the extreme agenda of some environmental groups, whose hostile lawsuits are precipitating a crisis in training.”