By Florida BillBy and large Americans love their country. They are the most generous citizens on earth and have always been there to assist nations troubled by aggressors. Most Americans believe the USA must maintain its traditional superiority and remain militarily strong so we will always prevail when threatened or actually attacked.
In the parlance of Republican Candidate Donald Trump, America
needs a military "which is so strong and so powerful that no other nation will
ever mess with us." That seems to be the sentiment of all Republicans and most
Democrats, and of most Americans. In other words: Peace through strength.
Currently, America is moving through the Obama
plan of cutting an incredible $500 billion dollars (five hundred thousand millions) from defense spending through
2022, at a rate of about $40 billion per year. That kind of major surgery has got to hurt.
Here we are on the sidelines being told of massive
cuts to the military, and then we hear from the President in his State of the
Union address that the country is the "strongest in the world. Period. Not even
close." Is this another Obama moment designed to disguise until another day the real
condition of what once had been the world's mightiest military? Remember his
comments about Obamacare and how you can "keep your doctors. Period."
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, like Trump a candidate for the Republican nomination, has said that President Obama
seems more interested in protecting the reputation of Islam than in keeping
America safe. Others point to Obama's philosophy that America's might and
power is a detriment to making friends out of enemies. After eviscerating
the military, Obama has extended his open hand to adversaries looking for a closed fist to open. Clearly, that theory has not worked, and threats and disrespect for America
continue to grow and worsen.
In recent assessments of America's military readiness, Republicans Jeb Bush and Sen. Ted Cruz have pointed to questionable readiness and manpower of today's armed forces. Under Obama, America will have the smallest army since 1940 with 450,000 soldiers. The navy will be the smallest since 1915 with the fleet of ships having dropped from 529 in 1991 to 272. The air force will be the smallest in modern history with the number of planes having been reduced from the 8,000 used in 1991 at the onset of Desert Storm to the present 4,000 planes. Add to all this, ISIS storming and killing in Syria and Iraq and bragging of its plans to destroy America; and Russia and China seeking to expand into new territories. Citizens of the United States are nervous and uneasy, and justifiably so.
On top of these obvious threats are the forces of
"radical Islam" with its plan to turn the planet into a great caliphate and the
call for infidels to convert to Islam or die. With Americans and Christians
being slaughtered and with ISIS on the rise, the President remains passive and
has declined to call out these Muslim radicals for their savagery; and all this goes on as weapons and manpower are being gutted. Cutting the military is consistent with Obama's stated plan to change the face of America.
Former Secretary of Defense Chuck
Hagel, a one time Republican senator tapped by Obama to join his
administration, announced the cut backs in 2014 and said that the nation will be
at the same level of readiness as it was prior to the beginning of World war
II. He called it a "reset for the times." Hagel was a former congressman from Nebraska, unpopular among his peers, when he was appointed by Obama to be Secretary of Defense, a key member of Obama's cabinet. He stayed
in the post for two years and then resigned, though some insiders say he was fired.
At a news conference, Hagel provided a breakdown of some of the cuts. The
army would be reduced from a high of 750,000 after 9-11 to about 450,000.
Planes and battleships will be scrapped. Military benefits and pay will be
slowed, and the National Guard will be pared by 5 per cent. Elite B-52 bombers, the pride of the President Truman era, will be maintained although judged by some observers to be rickety and questionably safe.
For the most part, Democrats have said very little about America's military status, electing rather to stand by statements of the President. At a recent Democratic debate, the question of military readiness was never put on the table for comment. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who focuses big time on her email problems, dodged accusations that she was too cozy with Wall Street, and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has credentials as a pacifist and a conscientious objector, sees "climate change" as the issue to be concerned with. Martin O'Malley recognizes the threat posed from terrorists, but he continued to boast of his accomplishments as a Baltimore mayor and Maryland governor who fought discrimination and gun violence.
For the most part, Democrats have said very little about America's military status, electing rather to stand by statements of the President. At a recent Democratic debate, the question of military readiness was never put on the table for comment. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who focuses big time on her email problems, dodged accusations that she was too cozy with Wall Street, and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has credentials as a pacifist and a conscientious objector, sees "climate change" as the issue to be concerned with. Martin O'Malley recognizes the threat posed from terrorists, but he continued to boast of his accomplishments as a Baltimore mayor and Maryland governor who fought discrimination and gun violence.
Objectively speaking, it is difficult to find proponents outside of the Obama administration who view the cut backs with optimism. Getting rid of waste is always a
noble objective, but the Department of Defense is not the place for massive cuts. General Ray Odierno, Army chief of staff who retired last August, has testified before Congress that America's strength and readiness are inadequate and growing worse.
The National Defense Review Panel has reviewed the country's state of readiness and strength and has reported that "the Obama administration's four-year defense strategy lacks funding needed for fulfilling global military missions and the U.S. military faces 'high risk' in the world unless changes are made."
That panel, with members appointed jointly by the Defense Department and Congress, is probably the nearest thing to bipartisanship that can be found in Washington. The next President, Democrat or Republican, will be wise to focus immediate attention upon national defense and readiness in this dangerous world.
The National Defense Review Panel has reviewed the country's state of readiness and strength and has reported that "the Obama administration's four-year defense strategy lacks funding needed for fulfilling global military missions and the U.S. military faces 'high risk' in the world unless changes are made."
That panel, with members appointed jointly by the Defense Department and Congress, is probably the nearest thing to bipartisanship that can be found in Washington. The next President, Democrat or Republican, will be wise to focus immediate attention upon national defense and readiness in this dangerous world.
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Excellent review of our military unreadiness, Florida Bill.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I believe that Obama'a military axe is part of his deliberate overall objective to reduce the US to a second-rate European-style socialist state. During the seven years of his presidency to date, he has repeatedly apologized for America's "mistakes" in global affairs, pushed Obamacare thru a literacy-challenged Democrat Congress, vowed to close the Guantanamo prison and has released from there hundreds of criminal terrorists, refused to identify radical Islamist terrorism, passively allowed Russian aggression in the Crimea and Ukraine, evaded and circumvented the Constitution by dictatorially legislating thru "executive orders," appeased Iran's nuclear development with an "executive agreement" actually a treaty requiring two-thirds consent of the Senate, paved the way for Russian/Iranian/Iraqi intervention in Syria by ignoring his own phony "red line," allowed the rise of ISIS by withdrawing US forces from Iraq, canceled missile-defense installations in Poland and the Czech Republic, appointed ideological disciples Hilary Clinton and John Kerry as Secretaries Of State, "normalized" diplomatic and economic relations with Communist Cuba, declared a phony "pivot" in US foreign policy toward the Far East while China continues to expand bases in the South China Sea, exonerating an army deserter and ransoming him with the additional release of criminal terrorists, declaring climate change rather than Islamic terror as the world's major threat today. And the list goes on.
The decline of US military readiness has followed in step with the decline of American economic and diplomatic values during the Obama presidency, as well as the concurrent decline in morality and morale engendered by the permissive Obama era throughout our society,including federally-funded abortion, homosexuazl mariaage, Planned Parenthood "chop shops" and the attitude that no one except the taxpayer is accountable for anything has impacted the military as well. This is especially true in the US navy, where dozens of commanding officers have been relieved in recent years -- some deservedly-- for failure to maintain morale aboard today's unisexual ships, for not being "politically correct," or for appalling fraud and violations of national security at the highest levels, such as the current case involving the Chief of Naval Intelligence whose security clearances have been revoked.
Even with the election of a Republican president and more solid Republican majorities in the Congress, it will take years to clean up the mess left by Obama,restore Judaeo-Christian values to our society and American exceptionalism throughout the world. I'm not a fan of Donald Trump, but I cheer his campaign slogan: "Make America Great Again!"