ADDING INSULT TO INJURY

It's bad enough that National Guard troops are having their tours of duty in Iraq extended, but the damn government can't even officially inform them in a timely fashion:

WEST ORANGE, N.J. -- Family members of New Jersey soldiers who will be staying four months longer than expected in Iraq voiced their anger and disappointment to state officials, including Gov. Jon Corzine, who met with them Saturday.

The extension, announced Thursday, will affect 159 members of the New Jersey Army National Guard currently in Iraq....

One of the biggest complaints from frustrated relatives during the meeting at the West Orange armory was that soldiers in Iraq learned of the extension either through the media or through family members, who were alerted Thursday.

"I spoke to my son this morning and he said, 'Mom, we don't know nothing. These are just rumors. I'm coming home in March,"' said Rosa Rosado, 42, of Newark, whose son Joseph Rosado, 24, is serving in Iraq. "Just to think, he has to go four more months and put his life on the line, and they are not even letting him know."

...The captains for the two guard units listened in to the meeting via a telephone conference call. At one point, Maj. Gen. Glenn Rieth, New Jersey's adjutant general, asked the captains whether the units had received official notification and the reply was negative.....

The Bush administration hates the troops even more than we thought. Why?