questions i wish we'd asked sooner, #02
during the 2000 presidential campaign the eventual winners claimed the size of our armed forces had been cut too much and needed enough rebuilding to fight on two fronts.
not long after 9/11 they seemed to be itching to prove they'd reached that goal and could attack two countries without negative consequences.
it appears they have some sort of selective optimism/pessimism: they assess threats according to worst-case scenarios then make best-case-scenario predictions about what they'll accomplish. there's no middle ground.
now we see where that kind of manichaean politics got us: defense spending is up 40%, yet our military is stretched so thin it's doubtful it could take on another major challenge.
so a question i wish we'd asked 4 years ago is
if we invade iraq while still in afghanistan, what will we do if another war breaks out or some other major emergency arises that requires troops?
No comments:
Post a Comment