Blur,
As usual, you have just abandoned the entire basis for your argument and started off on a new heading as if the old argument is now totally immaterial. Why am I not suprised?
This has been a "dysfunctional world" since the first Cane whacked the first Abel over the head with a rock. Excuse me if I see all that as extremely unlikely to change within the next 100 years... as a minimum... despite all your good intentions, power pyramids, quartz crystals and the Coca-Cola "I'd like to teach the world to sing" commercial.
So "some sort of military" is necessary. Wow, Blur. What an incredible piece of insight. It may surprise you that a few people have reached this conclusion ahead of you, however, and thought it through far more carefully.
Sneer all you like (and I'm sure you will) but this is the exact reason Bush recently ordered a review of current military strategy and organization.
Here's our problem: we're still organized and equipped to fight the "hot" side of the Cold War.The strategic necessities of that era have totally changed; that threat essentially no longer exists. Instead we have a world that routinely presents us with more confusing military missions, ones that we are not really equipped to handle. (Combat troops do not make good policemen.)
Obviously, our military equipment needs to change. Now you want to "start diverting our resources into more reasonable solutions."
Don't we all. Who here isn't tired of huge US military budgets? Yet until now did we really have that option?
You know, after WWI, "the war to end all wars" the civilised nations vowed "never again!"
I guess you know how that pledge turned out.
Then after WWII, the civilised nations of the world vowed "never again" and formed the UN. Of course at the time, there was only ONE nation capable of defending anyone against anything. Take a wild guess.
Be as cynical as you like but it was the Mothers and Fathers of the US that agreed to do the job. Had they not agreed, the politicians would have been unable to do it alone.
Most of these "Moms and Dads" had just lived through the worst war in the history of the world. They saw their friends, sons and lovers come home in boxes in the thousands. They accepted the fact that it truly had to be "never again". They again volunteered their sons and their money to see that it never did. It has cost a large amount of both....but it hasn't happened again.
Your "defensive force" would be AND WOULD ALWAYS HAVE BEEN much, much cheaper to field and fund if it's mission was solely to protect and defend the United States.
After all, outside of our North and South American neighbors any other "world power" would have incredibly long and vulnerable supply lines should they attempt to threaten the US by invasion. Therefore, the primary threat to the US itself, in the post-WW2 era, has been from the air. Either manned or missile, the only way to really hurt us physically and slaughter our people was through airpower.
Yet we've spent untold amounts of money to field a fully diversified and capable military that could fight anyone and anywhere ...and win... in the world and we've maintained these troops and forces in expensive deployed status.
Why is that?
Now it IS time to bring our troops home. In previous threads you've stated you support our Bosnian deployment as well as other "peacekeeping" missions.
I don't. We've more than done our share in the world "peacekeeping" effort. Time to share that burden around for a while.
If we do, then we CAN refocus on a mainly defensive force to protect the US homeland. We're going to have to thouroughly revise our equipment when we do, too. Guess what! that's going to COST MONEY for quite a while. It'll still be cheaper than fielding military that can fight and win against anyone, anywhere and anytime.
To reconfigure the force will take more than just money. The US will have to basically abandon its philosophy of standing ready to engage anywhere in the world at anytime. If we do that, it basically means our allies and the UN are on their own with only a fraction of the support we stood ready to provide.
My crystal pyramid tells me this isn't going to happen in my lifetime.
As to your comment about Sikorsky lobbying Congress for the Aid Package to Colombia, they were just supporting the greatest US President ever, weren't they?
http://www.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/americas/08/23/colombia.aid/ Clinton OKs Colombia aid package despite country's human rights abuses
"A U.S. delegation met with Colombian leaders earlier this month to discuss the aid package, under which the United States would dispatch
90 Army helicopters to Colombia's armed forces. U.S. military authorities would train their Colombian counterparts to use the aircraft to eradicate drug crops and combat Marxist rebels, who control roughly 40 percent of the country and have ties to Colombian drug traffickers."
Yeah, go figure. Why would a helicopter company support such a program? They should be SO ashamed of themselves for seeing an opportunity to sell more helos in Clinton's program. They should have stayed out of it. After all, no other decent company in the entire WORLD tries to feed at their respective national public troughs, right?
Blur: "Now, do we really believe that their primary purpose is to protect our little ones from taking those nasty horrible drugs?"No, now with your help, the scales have fallen from my eyes. I see that in actuality Clinton's 1.3 Billion Dollar aid package was simply a gift to his buddies at Sikorsky and a few other firms. After all, drugs are not really a problem in the US, are they? This whole thing is just a made-up scary story so that we can enrich the military industrial complex. Thanks for helping me with that, Blur. Why, I look forward to your next installment of "How Cocaine Helps American Youth Realize Their Full Potential."
Iraq isn't about to invade the East Coast of the US. Given another opportunity, they might take another shot at the West Coast of the Gulf.
Hope your son gets in on that one, Blur.
Say, Blur, what's your position on the no-fly zones. I work with some guys that get shot at their on a regular basis during their Guard/Reserve deployments. What do you think? Time to give up on that idea?
Bosnia...to quote you again: Why are WE there? Think the Serbs are about to invade the East Coast of the US? The Muslims about to sneak in through Galveston?
Joining us Isolationists or not Blur? Time to get off the fence!
