Remember this Facebook post from Governor Palin a few weeks ago?
Something has to be done urgently to stop the out of control Obama-Reid-Pelosi spending machine, and no government agency should be immune from budget scrutiny. We must make sure, however, that we do nothing to undermine the effectiveness of our military. If we lose wars, if we lose the ability to deter adversaries, if we lose the ability to provide security for ourselves and for our allies, we risk losing all that makes America great! That is a price we cannot afford to pay.
Military historian James Corum, writing in the UK Daily Telegraph, highlights the risks of trying to deter adversaries with military forces based on the model inherited from the massive cuts of the Clinton era.
He lays the initial blame on President George W Bush and Donald Rumsfeld.
When the United States was forced into conflict after 9/11, President Bush made a huge strategic mistake – he accepted Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s policy of fighting wars without increasing the size of the armed forces. Bush’s close cabinet and advisors wanted to prove that the US could fight and win major foreign conflicts on the cheap.
This was unprecedented in American history. In every conflict since the colonial campaigns against the Indians, the Americans had increased the armed forces; defence came first because defeat was not an option
Rumsfeld’s attitude seemed justified in the early weeks of the Iraq campaign as Saddam’s forces crumbled in the face of superior US firepower and technology. But the subsequent insurgency exposed the flaws in Rumsfeld’s policy.
But fighting insurgents requires a lot of time and people on the ground. This was obvious after the first few weeks in Iraq when the failure to put enough troops into the country allowed it to dissolve into chaos and offered insurgents an environment to thrive in. Still, Bush and Rumsfeld were not going to admit a mistake – so the US forces were not even marginally increased until Rumsfeld was fired in late 2006
Even though the post Rumsfeld surge transformed the military picture the price of engaging in extensive deployments with Clinton sized forces is being paid by service personnel and their families.
For those of us working in the US military it was clear that by the surge in 2007 the US forces were in terrible shape. By 2007, the repeated deployments resulted in an estimated 30 per cent of the US Army with some degree of post traumatic stress disorder. Every indicator of morale showed problems. Divorce and suicide were way up. Officers leaving the service after repeated deployments meant that the promotion selection of those remaining rose to 100 per cent
Yet under President Obama there has been no attempt to reduce this strain
…..despite evidence of serious personnel problems throughout the armed forces, the Obama administration has continued the policy of defence on the cheap. In fact, President Obama has opted to further cut the armed forces even though the conflicts continue in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Navy and Air Force have already undergone significant cuts and there are plans to cut more personnel over the next two years.
Corum believes that no military force can survive long term on will power and courage alone and his assessment of the future is grim.
While Bush’s policies undermined the US forces, Barack Obama’s policies will break them. For the sake of the defence and stability of America and its allies, the Republicans need to fight these cuts and make national defence a major issue in the 2010 and 2012 elections.
Sarah Palin is the only leading conservative politician on the national stage who recognises that in a conflict between fiscal rectitude and the need for national security the cards must not be stacked against the military. This does not mean that the generals and admirals should be given carte blanche – history teaches us that they can be as profligate with the public purse on grandstanding projects as any Cook County machine politician especially in the key issue of procurement which can so easily get caught up with political pork. The money needs to be spent wisely – but there has to be enough money available to allow the military to operate at maximum efficiency.
At present there is not a shred of evidence that Obama and the Democrats are ready to face up to this challenge. Unfortunately, as Corum warns, it seems possible that the GOP establishment might well be as ostrich like as their opponents on this matter…
….and the enemy will smile……
