Fresh Troops -- or Fresh Thinking?

by Patrick Buchanan - March 2nd, 2007 - Townhall.com

Six years after Donald Rumsfeld agreed to a second tour of duty as secretary of defense, to rebuild the military, Chief of Staff Peter Schoomaker told Congress his Army "will break" if not relieved of the present burdens. Colin Powell says the Army is "almost broken."

This article by Buchanan shows how out of touch with anything but his own biases that he really is. It makes me nervous when I agree with Buchanan so when he gets things wrong I am comforted. I started off nervous since I partially agree with Buchanan that we need to reduce our stupid commitments to nations who are no longer under credible threat. To pretend that Russia could threaten Europe when it could not even maintain its hold over the eastern satellites is not rational. Since Europe maligns us at every move, why we still have hundreds of thousands of troops committed to protecting nations that spit on us constantly just proves that George W. Bush cannot comprehend the real threats that face us.

Nor can Bush continue to ignore what Clinton did and act like the current size of the armed forces is adequate for our nation. It would require Bush to ask civilians to sacrifice if he was to increase the size of the military and nothing indicates he has the guts to ask our citizens for sacrifice. Nor does Bush have the guts to criticize Clinton.

. . . . what happened to the armed forces that were Ronald Reagan's great legacy to the nation[?]

"The active-duty Army was cut from 18 divisions during Desert Storm to 10 by 1994 -- its size today. The Navy, which counted 569 ships in the late 1980s, struggles today to sustain a fleet of only 276. And the number of tactical air wings in the Air Force was reduced from 37 at the time of Desert Storm to 20 by the mid-1990s."

Inheriting Reagan's estate, Bill Clinton sold off much of it for the big party of the 1990s.

Where Buchanan and Bush disagree is what puts me opposed to them both. Buchanan is stuck on the idea of nation states as the only credible threat to our nation. He has therefore opposed the war in Iraq since day one. He still opposes it. Buchanan is too stuck in his old ways to see a powerful movement like Islamofascism as a real threat.

Bush has decided that rather than a military defeat of our enemy, installing democracy will fix the problem. However he fails to note that none of the forces for successful democracy exist in the Muslim world. This is especially true of Iraq. George W. Bush believing that all people want democracy has led him to some ridiculous strategies. Clearly Bremer made mistakes in the early days in Iraq that Bush is still paying for. The real problem is that Bush has no instinct for how to succeed in this war against Islamofascism. He is groping and off balance and has been since the beginning.

His insistence that Islam is a religion of peace is as stupid as his insistence that anyone who wants to close our borders is a "vigilante". Both statements prove that Bush is out of touch with reality. When Bush failed to keep the American people focused on the war and instead tried to make his legacy "reforming" social security (wasting his political capital in the process) he proved himself a man seriously deluded about his place in history.

Even though the surge is working for now, we will not win an easy victory and pulling out is not the answer. We must be prepared to fight this war until victory is achieved. We cannot "quit" as we did in Vietnam and expect our nation to survive. We are entering the real nuclear age, an age that will see small radical movements armed with the weapons of armageddon. The forces of Islamofascism in Iraq will soon adjust to the success of the "surge" and change tactics. That is the reality of war. Your enemy will never stop adjusting. When they adjust, the MSM will be ready once again to proclaim we are losing. How will Bush maintain pubilc support for this unpopular war at that time?

Or can he?

Buchanan will still be there advocating that we pull out. The democrats will still be there advocating we pull out. When the paleo conservatives (extreme right) and progressive socialists (extreme left) are aligned, how do patriots resist?

Our nation is still at a crises point. Our citizens need to prepare for the consequences. They need to prepare now.