In the aftermath of the Washington Post series that revealed the disgraceful mistreatment of soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, George Bush announced the creation of the President's Commission on Care for America's Returning Wounded Warriors because he was:

...concerned that our soldiers and their families are not getting the treatment that they deserve, having volunteered to defend our country. Any report of medical neglect will be taken seriously by this administration, I'm confident by the Congress, and we will address problems quickly.

And now we find out why he was so concerned; he needed those returning wounded warriors back on their feet so they could be sent back to Iraq:

"This is not right," said Master Sgt. Ronald Jenkins, who has been ordered to Iraq even though he has a spine problem that doctors say would be damaged further by heavy Army protective gear. "This whole thing is about taking care of soldiers," he said angrily. "If you are fit to fight you are fit to fight. If you are not fit to fight, then you are not fit to fight." As the military scrambles to pour more soldiers into Iraq, a unit of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Benning, Ga., is deploying troops with serious injuries and other medical problems, including GIs who doctors have said are medically unfit for battle. Some are too injured to wear their body armor, according to medical records.

While this administration continues to claim that the troops aren't over-extended, they are already sending untrained brigades to Iraq for on the job training, while at the same time:

...in the midst of a war — the number of soldiers approved for permanent disability retirement has plunged by more than two-thirds, from 642 in 2001 to 209 in 2005, according to a Government Accountability Office report last year. That decline has come even as the war in Iraq has intensified and the total number of soldiers wounded or injured there has soared above 15,000. [...] In 2005, Ellen Embrey, deputy assistant secretary of defense for force health protection and readiness, told House lawmakers the reason for the comparatively large numbers of troops placed on temporary disability was actually to keep end strength up. A premature medical evaluation board decision, she said, "may negatively impact the individual’s ability to continue serving."

And now we know why.

Other soldiers slated to leave for Iraq with injuries said they wonder whether the same thing is happening in other units in the Army. "You have to ask where else this might be happening and who is dictating it," one female soldier told me. "How high does it go?"

How high indeed? A question that needs to be asked as Congress considers legislation that would allow George Bush to waive readiness requirements for troops returning to Iraq. Because we now know how low he'll go to continue his war at all costs.