Monday, January 22, 2018

US Military Fantasy: Defeated by Vietnam US Thinks It Can Defeat Both Russia And China

Thomas Riggins
Forget spending increases to solve any of our domestic problems: " American military commanders and senior defense officials have fretted over whether 16 years of counterinsurgency fighting has left the military unprepared for a great powers land war. Pentagon officials say that the need to do both — fight insurgents and prepare for a potential war among great powers ." The Pentagon program has, since WW2, envisioned a military able to fight major wars on two fronts at the same time -- as we did against Germany (although the Soviet Union actually took out 80% of the German army) and Japan. The new fantasy -- we need a bigger military so we can wage two "conventional" land wars at the same time, one against Russia in Europe and another against China in Asia and win both. Of course nuclear weapons won't destroy Das Vaterland in the meantime. "Our" government is supposed to be working for our interests -- we better start electing one that does!
The Pentagon says the military is too stretched to both fight insurgents and prepare for war with great world powers.
NYTIMES.COM

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