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Subject: Re: Imagine the America you want to live in #10
Enough for self-defense.Subject: Re: Imagine the America you want to live in #10
Just enough of a navy to keep hostile aircraft carriers out of range of our coasts, and just enough of an air force to stop incoming bombers and ballistic missiles.
For the army, I favor the Swiss (and former American) model. Of the current Army, I'd keep only the Special Forces, and put them to work at home. (Contrary to the impression given by bad movies, the primary function of Special Forces is to train people in guerilla and anti-guerilla tactics.)
Our current approach to the military has failed completely to defend the US. We should go back to what has actually worked: "You cannot invade the mainland United States. There will be a rifle behind every blade of grass." --Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
Subject: Re: Imagine the America you want to live in #10
Luckily for them, the Swiss are not the bulls-eye for every demented ideology and every gangster regime in the world. We are.We would like nothing better, then to live and let live. Sadly, this does not appear to be an option. Therefore, having "just enough" military to repel a conventional invasion is not a serious proposition.
"Enough for self-defense" means, for us, "military might well beyond challenge."
Subject: Re: Imagine the America you want to live in #10
Luckily for them, the Swiss are not the bulls-eye for every demented ideology and every gangster regime in the world. We are.
Luck has nothing to do with it, Irving Kristol's delusions to the contrary notwithstanding. The Swiss are not a bulls-eye because they don't go around pushing their nose into things that are none of their business, they don't give money and weapons to both sides of a war, they don't base their troops in over a hundred countries all over the world, and they don't launch unprovoked attacks on random third-world countries.
"Enough for self-defense" means, for us, "military might well beyond challenge."
There is no such thing as "military might well beyond challenge." If the US continues the foreign policy direction it's been headed in for the past century (and especially the past 20 years), it may well collapse under the economic strain, as the Soviet Empire did. However, if that doesn't happen, eventually much of the rest of the world will be forced to fight us whether they want to or not, as happened with the Third Reich.
Subject: Re: Imagine the America you want to live in #10
Also, it's not the military that failed to defend us. Our will to defend ourselves has failed.Subject: Re: Imagine the America you want to live in #10
I'm not sure the minimalist approach in consistent with what's necessary for our self-defense. With the exception of guerrilla campaigns against an invader, actual wars require offense, as well. Take the invasion of Afghanistan, for example. This was a defensive war...some argue that it could have been avoided by diplomacy, but I think the Taliban had become too tightly linked to al-Qaeda for that to be meaningful, and in any event probably wouldn't have worked without the threat of military force. Now, granted, the U.S. didn't commit very much of our armed forces to that conflict, but we "lucked out" in that the Northern Alliance was a handy force to supply to fight the ground war for us. Were that not the case, you'd see a situation where the U.S. - through motives stemming largely from self-defense - has to conquer and occupy a rather large country. I still see enough threats in the world, especially with the unavoidable tide of weapons proliferation, that we need to retain that capability.I admit this has the serious drawback that military options become too easy, as in Clinton's habit of launching a few cruise missiles when he couldn't think of anything better to do. In both WW I and WW II, the U.S. entered with a small military that got bigger through massive recruitment and the draft. The problem, though, is that modern wars move too quickly, and require too much technological training. You need the capability of a serious military at your back, even if you only plan on pursuing diplomatic options.
Gee, for two weeks in a row I feel like a conservative...
Subject: Re: Imagine the America you want to live in #10
Well, I am generally the one to post the "flower-child, naive, you gotta be kidding" comment wherever I go so why should here be different.I really agree that "just enough to repel invasion" is more than I would like but perhaps a necessary evil. If we would do more to stop pissing people of and try to be a better member of the global community, this "preemptive strike" nonsense would be moot.
We have military bases in countries where they are not wanted. We go into sovereign countries and tell their leaders they suck and need to leave. We demand that everyone else follow our rules but we also demand that we not be subject to anyone else's rules. We strut around in other people's countries, completely ignoring their customs and traditions and call them barbarians or worse. I'd hate us and want to kick our ass too if I were the rest of the world.
Subject: Re: Imagine the America you want to live in #10
America is too overstretched at the moment, their fairly large and well equipped military is being sucked into the quagmire that is Iraq or as some people like to called it "Rummy Land".The Military-Industrial keeps people in jobs and has great influence in the White House, if they want money diverted to a Pentagon project, they are able to due to being powerful. Bush is being controlled thought Rumsfeld by the Military-Industrial complex, since Rumsfeld is just a military-industrial stooge.
If the US government was to halt military-industrial production, they could suffer very high unemployment.
It would be nice if the world was safer and a less heavy military was needed. Maybe the budget could be spent on more important things like Schools, Health and Welfare instead of pumping money into another missile or another weapon.
America feels safe with a large military.
hope this all makes sense
just my 2cents
PS - veild4allah is an excellent site, very clear and full of interesting articles to read, keep up the good work.