THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XIV, Issue # 8, January 15, 2012
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
PRESIDENT OBAMA WEAKENS U.S. MILITARY
By Alan Caruba
THE HISTORY LESSON THAT PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA IS IGNORING: SI VIS PACEM, PARA BELLUM (IF YOU WANT PEACE, PREPARE FOR WAR) -- A
MILITARILY & ECONOMICALLY STRONG SOCIETY IS LESS LIKELY TO BE ATTACKED BY ITS ENEMIES. A FOREIGN & NATIONAL SECURITY POLICY OF
SUCCESSFULLY MAINTAINING OVERWHELMING MILITARY & INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH GREATLY CONTRIBUTES TO A COUNTRY'S AVOIDING WARS. PRESIDENT
OBAMA MAKES EVIDENT HIS ANTIPATHY OF THE ROLE OF THE U.S. MILITARY IN DEFENDING THE NATIONAL INTERESTS OF THE U.S.A., ENSURING THE SAFETY
OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, & MAINTAINING WORLD PEACE THROUGH AMERICAN MILITARY STRENGTH. OBAMA'S DETERMINATION TO REDUCE AMERICA'S
MILITARY STRENGTH & CAPABILITIES IS PUTTING THE U.S.A. IN PERIL.
FULL STORY:
“Si vis pacem, para bellum.” If you want peace, prepare for war. The adage is attributed to the 4th or 5th century Latin author Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus’s tract
De Re Militari, Book 3. This fundamental wisdom is being ignored by President Barack Obama, one of two recent U.S. Commanders-in-Chief who never spent
a day in uniform, let alone under fire.
In a recent American Thinker commentary, Jim Yardley said, “It is apparent that the President, in developing his strategy, used the same extensive knowledge,
his superior intellect, and worldly wealth of experience that he brought to his strategy for his $800-billion stimulus, his strategy for providing cost-free health care to
millions of Americans, and his strategy for using ‘smart diplomacy’ to defuse hot spots around the world.”
Perhaps receiving the Nobel Peace Prize barely months into his first year as President has convinced Obama that he is the man to get all our enemies to join hands
and sing Kumbaya. Obama accepted the prize that has gone to other seekers of peace like Yassir Arafat, Founder of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, or
co-winners, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Al Gore. The IPCC and Gore have led the greatest hoax of the modern era, global warming, and
Arafat rejected every effort at peace offered by Israel by going back on his word and using terrorism to achieve his goals.
There is no question that the announced cuts to the U.S. military budget are, in part, the result of the domestic run up of U.S. national debt and borrowing that
followed the financial crisis of 2008 -- itself, the result of bad government policies regarding the wholesale granting of mortgages to people who could not afford
homes, then bundling those bad mortgages and selling them as assets to the banks.
While the American economy is showing some small signs of regaining its footing, the U.S. government is still borrowing forty cents of every dollar it spends and
has shown no real intent to reduce spending.
While this is occurring, we have a President who has made clear his antipathy of the role of the U.S. military. A recent Wall Street Journal editorial noted:
“The Pentagon shouldn’t be immune to fiscal scrutiny, yet this
administration has targeted defense from its earliest days and
has kept on squeezing. The White House last year settled with
Congress on $450 billion in military budget cuts through 2012,
on top of the $350 billion in weapons programs killed earlier,”
. . . Taken altogether, the budget could shrink by over 30% in
the next decade.”
Following a 1993 attempt to destroy the World Trade Center, Osama bin Laden, a still largely obscure Islamic fanatic, declared war on the United States in 1996. In
2001, al-Qa'ida succeeded, killing nearly 3,000. To underestimate the intent of his successors to destroy the American nation would be a grave error. To think that
his assassination along with the killing of a relative handfull of other al-Qa'ida leaders has ended the threat is wishful thinking.
To think that the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq will not at some point result in the possible breakup of that nation or the withdrawal from Afghanistan will rid
us of the threat of Islamic fanaticism is still more wishful thinking.
Right now, and ever since 1979, the threat of Iran is the largest threat facing the Middle East and the West. Its leaders have never made a secret of Iran's intent to
acquire nuclear weapons, to threaten all other Middle Eastern nations, as well as Europe and America. The Iranian threat is on a par with the threat the rise of
Nazism posed in Germany in the 1930s.
After World War Two, America emerged as a superpower, and it took on the role of global policeman. No military prescience predicted the attack on South Korea
by North Korea, nor was our strategy in Vietnam successful. We had earlier failed to anticipate the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, despite efforts to keep out of the
war that had begun in 1939.
The lesson that should have been learned is that overwhelming military strength contributes greatly to avoiding wars.
President Obama is ignoring that lesson. It is not, however, to say that he is taking Iran lightly. In early January, thousands of U.S. troops were deployed to Israel
and senior U.S. military sources say they anticipate they will remain through the year. Obstensively, they are there to participate in joint U.S.-Israeli war games.
They will be joined by a U.S. aircraft carrier and, as we know, we have a task force in place in the event the Iranians try to close the Strait of Hormuz, through which
passes one sixth of the world’s oil supplies.
The U.S. could be energy independent in a decade, if the administration and Congress would remove the obstacles to accessing our enormous reserves of coal, oil
and natural gas, but that remains unlikely, as this is written.
The decision to reduce the size of our military to 490,000 troops from 570,000 could not come at a worse time. Air and naval assets, we’re told, will be maintained.
Holding evacuated or captured territory requires “boots on the ground.” The decision of former President Bush to “surge” in Iraq by increasing troop strength
turned a potential defeat into a success. A war-weary America and the current Iraqi regime wanted us out, and we are out.
Meanwhile Egypt that underwent “the Arab Spring” has fallen into the hands of a militant, anti-American and anti-Israel Muslim Brotherhood. Turkey has joined
the Islamic frenzy, and the future of Syria remains unknown. So, anyone who thinks that military action anywhere, but especially in Iran, is not a real potential is
not paying attention.
President Obama’s claim that “the tide of war is receding” is likely to rank with British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's claim of “peace in our time,” after a
visit with Adolf Hitler.
It is wishful thinking or worse. It is the deliberate effort to ignore the dangers in the world. Shifting military personnel and assets to Asia acknowledges China’s
rising power, but U.S. military leaders have warned against a war in Asia for decades. It is doubtful the Chinese want one.
What is not in doubt is that this is the wrong time to reduce our military strength and capabilities. We did that after World War One and paid a price for it.
President Obama’s policies put us in the same peril.
© Alan Caruba, 2012
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
American Government & the U.S. Presidency:
Presidential Politics & National Leadership
U.S. Military Defense & National Security
Military Weaponry & International Security
American Foreign Policy -- The Middle East
The Middle East & the Problem of Iran
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
International Politics & World Disorder:
War, Peace, & Geopolitics in the Real World:
Foreign Affairs & U.S. National Security
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
U.S. National Security Strategy
Alan Caruba's commentaries are posted daily at Warning Signs, his popular blog -- and thereafter on dozens of other
websites and blogs. His monthly report on new books is posted at Bookviews.
A business and science writer, Caruba is the Founder of The National Anxiety Center, a clearinghouse for information
about "scare campaigns" designed to influence public opinion and policy.
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity