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Originally Posted by aimeecc
I can't agree more. I think 2008 marks the year where the US spending on defense will surpass the spending of the rest of the world combined. We buy new billion dollar aircraft (Joint Strike Fighter) against an air threat that does not exist. We maintain bases in overseas regions that no longer require us to be there, and would frankly like us gone (although it would hurt the local economies to leave). I've always thought we should reduce our force and close most overseas bases. Mostly what we need is a few naval ports, and agreements to use a handful of airfields as required.
President Clinton reduced our forces. This alienated the military from the democrats, combined wth anti-military comments from other democrats. To make it worse, during Clinton's terms the military had more deployments as peace-keepers. Smaller force, more deployments, to areas in which the military's skills weren't in tune with what was needed. Military forces are trained to fight - not to keep peace. Sure, miltary have engineers that can dig wells and schools - but that's not the mission of the military. Protect and defend, not dig wells.
The US was never truly isolationist. If you look at the period when we were so called isolationists we were stilling fight small 'wars' in areas we had an economic interest in.
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I would disagree about the comments concerning the JSF or a huge reduction in overseas bases but I would agree about the comments concerning the Clinton administration. Having been on AD during that complete period we were marginalized and degraded. The times we prepared demonstrations and expected to have a chance to make a case for specific unit missions were met by 20-something's Congressional staffers and scorn by the Demoncratic administration of the time. Another reason not to vote for Ms. Clinton IMHO. We don't need to swing that far again. Our need to project military power world wide will not be reduced in the future. Let's not throw the baby out with the bath water.
BigV nailed it, we are warriors not nation builders, but it does not mean that we cannot be compasionate and care for civilians caught in the crossfire of misdirected policy. We can and do that to a much greater degree than the majority of the public knows or understands. The information fed to the public by the press is packaged and sanitized by both the government censors and liberal supporters with agendas and an axe to grind, much of it is off the mark and does not tell the real story.