George Bush's Real Plans for the Military

[Bluebear]

http://www.washingtondispatch.com/article_9861.shtml

Commentary by Randall Risener
August 20, 2004

At first glance President Bush’s widely publicized military redeployment plan could easily be dismissed as election year malarkey. After all, the whole notion that putting troops farther away from future crises hot spots will somehow enable us to respond quicker when crises erupts simply can’t be viewed as serious policy.


To be sure, there is an election angle here – bringing troops home is usually a crowd pleaser. Unfortunately, though, there is a rather detailed and thought out plan underlying the rather vague snippets.
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But this general strategy was not conjured up just by some military folks looking for a better way to attack terrorists. It comes from the civilian political group who call themselves Neoconservatives whose basic doctrine was detailed in a document called "Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources for a New Century,” published by a think tank known as the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) back in the 1990’s.
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If this is where they want to take our country they ought to say so publicly and specifically and be prepared to defend their plan instead of merely tossing out a few vague crowd pleasing phrases.

[NMDemDist2]

1. didn't the Kerry team call it "Fortress America" eom

[Florida_Geek]

2. And "Fortress Poland and "Fortress Romania

:(

[AFSCME girl]

3. Hi Plastic Turkeys!

I almost spewed hot tea all over my dining room when I saw that picture of Michelle.....whatshername?! :evilgrin:

[Bluebear]

5. Sorry about the hot tea :)

[AFSCME girl]

7. No Problem....

:hi:

[reorg]

4. nothing of this is news

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

10 June 2003

http://www.nato.int/shape/news/2003/06/s030610.htm


>>U.S.-TROOP BASING

* The Pentagon plans to significantly shrink the U.S. force of 70,000 troops in Germany and put far more forces in Africa and the Caucasus region, reports the Wall Street Journal. According to the newspaper, the push is driven by the increasing importance that the United States is placing on protecting key oil reserves in Africa and the Caucasus region near the Caspian Sea, as well as addressing concerns about combating terrorism. Adding, however, that the Pentagon is reluctant to cut the size of its forces in Europe too much out of concern that it might lose its leading status within NATO, the newspaper quotes EUCOM Deputy Commander Gen. Charles Wald saying: “Retaining our leadership of NATO is very important. We need to have a number (of troops) in Europe that gives us that status.” The newspaper, which adds that, according to U.S. officials, U.S. Army forces in the German cities of Heidelberg, Wiesbaden, Grafenwoehr and Wuerzburg are all likely to see their number reduced, further quoted Gen. Wald saying: “It is definitely going to get smaller” and some of the changes will take place “fairly quick.” He reportedly added, however, that final decisions have not been made and that several options are still being considered. A related Washington Post article writes that in the most extensive global realignment of U.S. military forces since the end of the Cold War, the Bush administration is creating a network of far-flung military bases designed for the raid projection of American military power against terrorists, hostile states and other potential adversaries. The bases are being built or expanded in countries such as Qatar, Bulgaria and Kyrgyzstan and the U.S. territory of Guam, notes the article, adding: “While existing U.S. bases in Germany and South Korea were designed to deter major communist adversaries, the new bases will become key nodes in the implementation of the administration’s doctrine of preemptive attack against terrorists and hostile states believed to have chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. Their location is based on the premise that U.S. forces must be able to strike rapidly adversaries armed with weapons of mass destruction before they can attack the United States or its allies.” The article quotes Andy Hoen, deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy saying one scenario under consideration calls for the troops in Germany to be brought home and based in the United States. They could then be rotated on six-month assignments in countries such as Poland, Bulgaria and Romania, which are closer to the Balkans and Central Asia and less restrictive than Germany as training sites. The Independent claims meanwhile that the 16,500 personnel of the U.S. Army’s 1st Armored Division will not be returning to their previous bases in Germany when their mission to Iraq is completed. “They will either go back to mainland U.S. or to new bases in Eastern Europe,” the newspaper asserts. Moscow’s Interfax, June 8, quoted Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov saying he had discussed the issue of a redeployment of U.S. military bases in Europe with his American colleagues during his last visit to Washington. “Consultations on this issue are being held, particularly within NATO,” he reportedly indicated.<<

[teryang]

8. Landlocked positions in Eastern Europe and Asia

...are basically unsupportable in any serious war. The notion that they are supportable ignores the experiences of WWII and the latent tactical strategic and military power of Russia and the great Asian states.

It is only the temporarily huge and unsupportable deficit financing of the military now which permits the illusion of that this is a viable long term strategy. Any serious resistance to it, even if only unconventional will result in harsh results at home and a serious reconfiguration abroad.

The delusions of "chessboard Eurasia" and world dominance are just that. The extended and remote lines of communication necessary to support this fundamentally "airborne" logistics infrastructure are incapable of supporting any significant payload for serious conflicts deep inland. In Iraq, we are only a few hundred kilometers from the sea, and our campaign has been entirely inconclusive and unsuccessful when viewed from a larger perspective.

This strategy is bankrupting our society and injuring our national security.

[indepat]

6. Damn, that photograph captures the essence of Malkin, her inner/

innate goodness.