That leaves just Europe and South America..................
Can SOMEONE in that admin keep their frickin’ mouths shut and ADVISE the President and go home. WHY do we have to make news all the time!!!
When you don’t fight a war to win it, the outcomes are fairly predictable. We haven’t done that since 1945.
Well, as everybody who watched The Princess Bride knows, the First Rule is “Never get involved in a land war in Asia.”
However, if we ditch some of the more moronic rules of land warfare that seem to be designed to prevent us from winning, the ME is perfectly doable...
Bush’s choice and Obama’s - a loser.
Instead of saying we should avoid a war, he should have said we should avoid PROLONGED POLICE ACTIONS in countries where our presence is not appreciated or wanted.
America, given the fickle nature of its voting populace, should ONLY fight blitzkrieg like wars - using overwhemling military technology and force to totally smash an opponent and his infrastruture into dust and then pull out. Let someone else pick up the pieces - its not our damn job to be the fixer-upper of the world. Our military should only be employed in the event our strategic interests or those of a VALUED ally - like Israel, are at stake. And only then when they are opperating in a situation of military advantage.
Prolonged police actions are expensive, bloody, raise public opposition and are counterproductive.
“Gates’s warning: Avoid land war in Asia, Middle East, and Africa”
My warning: Avoid ‘democracy building’ in Asia, Middle East, and Africa where tribal chiefs and mullahs are it.
MacArthur did warn about getting involved in a land war in Asia but Gates is a far cry from a MacArthur....he’s been nothing but a “yes” man. Someone must have given him notes for the speech. He’s just not that smart.
So, we’ve been spending billions and billions of dollars on whiz-bang weapons systems of questionable utility, but are incapable of successfully pursuing the actions - fought with manpower and off-the-shelf hardware - that we’re faced with in the real world as it exists...
But Defense Contractors and their pet Congresscritters are getting rich, so it’s okay....
/sarc
Seems if he believes this, then must advise Obama to get out of Iraq and Afghanistan now.
What a strategic thinker he’s turning out to be!
Bobby Gates has always been bad.
Which explains why the last two loser Presidents have had him as SecDef
Macnamara 2.0
Which is just a backhanded way of calling his predecessor a lunatic. Such a class act!
Somehow the word; “INCONCEIVABLE”, come to mind...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6wqKb8EUxI
Somehow the word; “INCONCEIVABLE”, comes to mind...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6wqKb8EUxI
“There has been an overwhelming tendency of our defense bureaucracy to focus on preparing for future high-end conflicts – priorities often based, ironically, on what transpired in the last century – as opposed to the messy fights in Iraq and Afghanistan,”
For good reason. The military is best used in a conventional fashion, and the “high-end conflicts” are the ones that actually threaten our existence the most. China, the Russian Federation, et. Al. The enemies have NOT gone away and we have become so focused on “insurgents” we can no longer effectively fight a major conflict.
BTW - Iraq and Afghanistan would still be “messy”, but they would and could go smoother IF we stopped using such anemic Rules of Engagement (ROEs). IF we don’t have good reason to kill people and break things, then we don’t have good reason to send in the military. IMO it is either “total” war or no war.
Yep, makes perfect sense. We should send troops only to where the most dangerous enemies are: Grenada and Panama.
That'll keep us perfectly safe.