The Thomas Chronicles

As President Bush decides whether or not mass more troops in Iraq, one thing is clear. We need to expand the military, not make it smaller. In the post-Cold War era, many high level policymakers for our military during the Clinton and Bush presidencies made a major blunder in thinking that we needed to reconstitute our force structure into a smaller, lighter force that would specialize in rapid deployment.

The reasoning behind this assumes that a) large-scale wars are a thing of the past and b) that no one would go through the ruinous expense of challenging our military superiority. Had these assumptions been true, then, in effect, these rapid deployment forces would make a lot of sense. Would would be left with only “policing actions” and “peace-keeping” missions.

However, it seems we are becoming painfully aware that these assumptions were just plain wrong.

In looking at the 1990’s from hindsight, when the Soviet Union collapsed and the Berlin Wall crumbled under the weight of thousands of picks and axes, we apparently thought we had finally shut down the war cycle.

Peace will reign.

Goodwill and prosperity will overflow and runneth over.

Then, like a series of sucker punches, we awoke. Then the jarring horror of 9/11. Then, when we surveyed our “friends” and “allies” for assurance and support, we found the world had changed into something we no longer knew. Then, we went war; first in Afghanistan, then Iraq. We surged into 200 plus countries to confront terrorists in myriad levels of operations.

I can go on ad nauseum at all the shocks the United States have undergone since the beginning of the millenium (Frankly, I am surprised we are in as good a shape as we are currently in.)

Some conservatives worry over the eroded support for the war in Iraq, and I confess I share their worry. But this is not the only cause for concern. The world taken as a whole has become a very perilous place for America. Allow me to outline just the barest sketch of what we will face in the next 5 to 10 years:

• Chinese Military Build Up. China has been conducting a military build-up for the past 20 years with their sole aim as challenging the United States in the Western Pacific. As the United States had inadvertantly become hegemon of the world, so China is determined at being the hegemon of Asia. In this goal, they are attempting to challenge us on land, sea and air, especially the latter two. Early this year, the Chinese fielded their first Aegis destroyer. I don’t know how they stole our technocracy to build these ships, but that’s now irrelevant. They have also signed treaties with Russia for the exchange of high-tech weaponry and created the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, an organization whose purpose remains shrouded in secrecy.

• A Totalitarian Russia. Early this year, Russia revealed their hand when they threatened to withhold natural gas to Europe. Under former Chancellor Gehart Schoeder’s urgings, Europe is now utterly at the mercy of Russia for natural gas, which heats a sizeable percentage of Europe’s population. Russia has also publicly announced that they will MIRV their warheads and devise ways to penetrate our Missile Defences with special ICBM’s that don’t operate from linear trajectories. The Russian government is also consolidating all natural resources onto itself, mirroring the old Soviet socialist economy.

• Iran. Iran’s President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has been implacable in his desire to build nuclear weapons. He has dumbfounded the UN and the United States again and again. Iran is also undergoing a massive military build up, but this is not to rule the Mideast as many think. The radical Shiites, of which he is part, believes that the only way for the 5th and final Madhi to return to earth is by initiating an apocalypse. With his nuclear designs as he sits on or is next to around 60 percent of the world’s energy supply, he just might ignite the “Big One”.

• Eurabia or Fascist Europe (or both). All the talk about Europe nowadays presents only few options. None of them are good.The liberal social democracies are failing and falling fast from the onrush of militant Muslim immigrants and their own indiginious fascist resurgence. Europe’s demographic implosion is not just beginning but are already well-progressed. They’re into their third generation where a European is the only son of an only son of an only son. Should Europe go gently into the good night without a fight, all those lovely toys the Europeans have stored away for a rainy day will fall into the hands of the Jihadists.

• The Latin American Threat. I am not talking about illegal immigration, though it’s one component of the threat. Venezuela’s “President”, Hugo Chavez has repeatedly met with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Fidel Castro before he was hospitalized. Chavez, along with other extremist and anti-American groups, are becoming bolder in their hostility against the United States. Venezuela as well as Panama and others has allowed Chinese “advisors” to station themselves in their respective countries. FARC and drug cartels are slowly coming into alliance ever since the 1990’s. It is not difficult to imagine the devastation these groups can cause since they have the United States thoroughly penetrated via their drug trade and illegal immigrants.

All these threats I’ve just outlined are just the briefest of sketches about the threats swirling around the United States in the foreseeable future.

According to ABC News, President Bush is asking top military brass to figure out ways to increase the size of our Army and Marines.

“We have an obligation to ensure our military is capable of sustaining this war over the long haul and performing the many tasks that we ask of them,” he said.

“I’m inclined to believe that we need to increase in the permanent size of both the United States Army and the United States Marines.

“I’ve asked Secretary Gates to determine how such an increase could take place and report back to me as quickly as possible.”Now, in enacting changes to any bureaucracy, even the military, the optimum way of doing this is gradually. The haste implicit in President Bush’s statement suggests that we are planning this increase in force structure with more than just Iraq in mind. A troop surge in Iraq can serve to clench this war, but I don’t think this is the reason for this expansion of our military.

Although I would dearly love for us to return to the Cold War model of having the capacity to fight two and a half wars simultaneously, the haste in which this is requested is troubling. The ground is shaking over at the Pentagon, but out here in the comfortable civilian sector, we don’t know enough yet to feel the tremble.See Related Posts:

Captain’s Quarters: Do We Need a Bigger Military?
Wake Up America: Boots on the Ground in Iraq

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