A Dangerous Time

Thoughtful people have been warning that the United States is in serious trouble, both in foreign and domestic policy. The latest is recently retired Secretary of Defense Robert Gates who chose a  commencement address at Notre Dame to sound the alarm on defense cutbacks. Gates has served in three Republican and two Democratic administrations and knows whereof  he speaks. The Weekly Standard took note of his remarks and they are worth reading.

Gates first made the trenchant observation that:

      “If history—and religion—teach us anything, it is that there will always be evil in the world, people bent on aggression, oppression, satisfying their greed for wealth and power and territory, or determined to impose an ideology based on the subjugation of others and the denial of liberty to men and women.”

This is what separates conservatives and liberals and Gates is definitely in the former camp. This is what makes a strong defense so necessary - kumbaya doesn't cut it - which point he reinforced by stating:

     “More than any other secretary of defense, I have been a strong advocate of ‘soft’ power—of the critical importance of diplomacy and development as fundamental components of our foreign policy and national security.” But, said Gates, “Make no mistake: the ultimate guarantee against the success of aggressors, dictators, and terrorists in the 21st century, as in the 20th, is ‘hard’ power—the size, strength, and global reach of the United States military.”

Despite this, the U.S. has embarked on massive cuts to the defense budget that have gone beyond fat to muscle and even bone, and this Gates cannot abide. One example is air power.

You cannot run a successful large-scale military operation without air superiority. Period. This in turns requires the best aircraft and lots of them, as well as well-trained pilots. Current American fighters are getting long-in-the-tooth. Despite the lesson of history learned through hard, sometimes brutal, experience the U.S. has stopped F-22 Raptor production at 195 aircraft. This is the best fighter in the world, bar none. In an exercise in Alaska 12 F-22s were deployed against 75 F-15s and F-16s. The score at the end of the exercise was 144-0 in favor of the Raptors. Ostensibly, the ending of F-22 production was in favor of the new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) which, although not as capable as the Raptor, was more stealthy and capable than the current stable of American fighters. Now, however, Congress is talking about substantially scaling back the F-35. At some point in the not too distant future the current crop of F-15s, F-16s and F-18s will be grounded because their airframes are simply worn out. This is already happening with the early models of these aircraft. And what will be there to replace them and deal with the tyrants of this world? Apparently "Change you can believe in!" and not much else.

This is a dangerous world that is getting more so every day. Nuclear weapons are proliferating, as are chemical and biological weapons, sometimes into the hands of terrorists. We seem to be becoming a Prozac nation dreamily ignoring reality as long as the Prozac of government benefits keep coming. Bob Gates is warning that what is coming our way will not be pleasant if we continue collectively to stick our heads in the sand. We tried it in the 1930s and it did not work out very well. I hope this generation does not repeat history.


www.weeklystandard.com/articles/enough_571610.html