History shows folly of decimating military capability Re: “Republicans assail Obama’s cuts to Pentagon budget,” Jan. 6-7
“Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” -Winston Churchill
Sir Winston may be proved prophetic once again as the neophyte American president, who apparently loathes the much-revered British statesman, announces a drastic reduction in defense spending. Obama’s leftist base is virtually orgasmic, claiming that it’s past time for the Defense Department to take serious hits in the pocketbook.
In keeping with Sir Winston’s admonition, let us examine what happens when we fail to adequately “provide for the common defense.”
After World War I, an isolationist America withdrew and War Department budgets were minuscule. It all came crashing down at a place called Pearl Harbor. The ensuing maelstrom cost tens of millions of lives and trillions of dollars.
President Truman eliminated the sinews and muscle of the military that vanquished the Nazi and Japanese menaces, believing that the United Nations could control Joseph Stalin, Chairman Mao and their Communist proxies. We still pay for his mistake with the idiot North Korean government.
President Carter’s most egregious act was to utterly emasculate our intelligence community. With the help of Sen. Frank Church and a committee of like-minded liberals, decades of global network-building vanished overnight. Supporters and allies who put their lives and families on the line for America were exposed and abandoned. Now we are supposed to rely on “technical intelligence means” to gather data on Islamist terrorist cells, but too often find that nothing beats a set of Mark I eyeballs attached to a highly trained operator.
Congress forced George H.W. Bush to reduce the military on an unprecedented scale accelerated by the election of W.J. Clinton. Despite credible intelligence that non-state Islamic elements had declared war on the United States, Clinton viewed the first bombing of the World Trade Center as a law enforcement matter and failed to go after al Qaeda.
There are plenty of bad actors in the world who want to see us taken down. The U.S. military is the only reason they haven’t tried directly. Now Obama wants to throw that advantage away.
Capt. Bobby L. Crockett (U.S. Army, retired)
Cedar Hill, Texas
U.S. must stop Iran from getting the bomb
Re: “Iran missile tests points to dangerous 2012 in dealing with Tehran,” Jan. 2
Unfortunately President Obama does not appreciate the imminent danger of Iran not only obtaining a nuclear bomb capability, but delivering that weapon.
While the media trumpets his signing of a bill to enforce additional sanctions on Iran, he was instrumental in getting key provisions that would have increased the impact of the sanctions either softened or eliminated. Several of our allies have opted for more rigorous sanctions — which we have chosen not to impose — that would increase the economic bite on Iran.
Only Israel and some astute U.S. observers argue that the danger is not only real, but immediate. If we do not do stop Iran’s nuclear bomb and missile development now, we shall live to regret it, as Iran is already negotiating for bases in Latin America within missile range of the United States.
Nelson Marans
Silver Spring
Giffords, Ryan not only assassin’s targets
Re: “10 biggest stories of 2011: Assassination attempt,” Jan. 1
You are incorrect in stating that Rep. Leo Ryan, D-Calif., was the last member of the House of Representatives to be an assassin’s target before the January 2011 attempt on the life of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz.
Rep. Larry McDonald, D-Ga., was assassinated by the Soviet government in 1983.
Andrew Margrave
Fairfax
