Former Vice President Dick Cheney said Wednesday that President Obama has slashed the military so deeply that troop levels will be below where they were on the 9/11 attacks, a gutting that begs foes to exploit the Pentagon’s vulnerabilities.
“We’re investing in defense as if the dangers of the world were all in quiet retreat,” warned Cheney, a former defense secretary, in a morning speech at the American Enterprise Institute.
With typically blunt words, Cheney said that Obama has whittled away the strong military he was left with by former President George W. Bush.
“The Obama administration has failed utterly in that task,” he said. “We simply cannot pursue a comprehensive strategy against terrorism at the same time we’re giving pink slips to captains and majors in the combat zone. And yet this and more is happening. In this very time of hasty withdrawals, continuous disengagement, and such self-congratulation for all of it, we have also seen dramatic and devastating drawdowns in the military power of the United States,” said Cheney.
“We’re nearing a crisis point in the decline of American military power. It has to be addressed, and right away,” he added.
Cheney’s speech came as the president was set to reveal his strategy to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Expectations are that he will unleash military airpower on the terrorists.
But the former vice president who now heads the group “Alliance for a Strong America” said the military is being stretched by a president willing to use military power — but not pay for it.
According to an advanced text of his comments, Cheney said, “Take almost any element of our defense capability, and it has been reduced in some cases with further reductions to come. Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines – all of them have been subjected to irrational budget cuts having nothing to do with strategy or the needs of national security.”
He gave examples. “Soon, for instance, we’ll actually be looking at an Army and Marine Corps with authorized strength levels beneath what they were prior to 9/11. Of the Army’s 40 brigades, only four are combat ready. Meanwhile, we have seen crucial programs and weapons systems delayed or cancelled, either arbitrarily or else by the flimsiest of rationales. Under this president we are in the midst of a systematic pullback of defense investment in ways that will severely hinder our force structure, projection power, and general ability to meet and deter threats.”
That’s won the attention of U.S. foes like Russia.
“Look around: Other major powers are seriously adding to their military capabilities, some with a view to exploiting what they regard as America’s new vulnerabilities,” said Cheney.
And he warned that Obama is wrong for offering the military as an option to fighting terrorism around the world. Said Cheney:
“In all that we now face, the worst, most self-defeating illusion is the idea that American power and leadership are optional – as if, with or without us, the world will somehow get by. Ask around, among friends and allies, and you’ll hear otherwise. They still welcome and desire American influence, in any matter where freedom is on the line or security in the balance. They still believe in American leadership, as a force for good like no other. And they know their security – and ours – depends upon American power and will only be guaranteed with a restoration of American leadership and strength.”
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
