That was absolutely true in World War II but it was not at all true in the first Gulf War. In other words to have massive cavalry forces proved to be as much of a liability as an asset against the machine guns introduced in World War I. To have the best machine guns in World War I is another matter.
I think our challenge, and our mistake, is to be all things in all theaters against all potential enemies. We are overextended and that means that we can win the Iraq war but we cannot win the occupation quite so easily, or at least at a cost which was politically supportable. At the same time we must be able to confront Russia in the Arctic and China in the Spratlys while we fight asymmetrical wars in the Mideast. Next year we might find the theater of war to be in space.
During the eight years of Obama we had no strategy, apart from appeasement, to deal with any of these theaters, much of that, thanks to Trump, has been improved today. Strategy implies making choices, recognition of real strategic interests, adopting weapons systems to secure those interests and, finally, praying that we are preparing for the next, not the last, war.
Above all, our economic base and moral foundation must be conserved in order to avoid the next war and, if necessary, win it. We are squandering our economic edge and our culture is disintegrating. There is only so much Trump can do against these tectonic forces.
The imperative to address deficit and debt cannot be long postponed.
