Posted on 11/14/2007 8:47:41 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Defense: Fred Thompson wants a million-man ground force and more modern equipment on the ground, in the air and on the water. The arsenal of democracy needs some retooling.
After the Vietnam conflict, the U.S. military was depleted and exhausted. Then came Jimmy Carter and by the time Ronald Reagan came along we had planes that couldn't fly and ships that couldn't sail for lack of maintenance.
The Gipper rolled up his sleeves and built his 600-ship navy, gave the Air Force the latest fighters and bombers and an Army capable of deploying half a million troops for Desert Storm without breaking a sweat.
Once again the U.S. military is depleted and exhausted. We no longer have the force that Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf had. During Operation Desert Storm, the active duty Army had 18 combat divisions. Clinton cut them down to 10, about their size today. As of March, the active Army consisted of about 508,000 troops, far below the 780,000 we had while Reagan was winning the Cold War.
A year ago, President Bush recognized the need for a bigger stick not only in Iraq but around the world. "We need to increase the permanent size of both the United States Army and the United States Marines," he said. "I've asked Secretary Gates to determine how such an increase could take place and report back to me as quickly as possible."
Speaking at The Citadel Tuesday, presidential candidate Thompson proposed a military ground force of 775,000 in the Army, near Reagan-era levels, and 225,000 Marines, 23,000 more than the Pentagon currently is seeking.(continued)
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
“I think the peace-through-business approach to China has already shown itself a failure. “
Bush’s attempt at enforcing trade policy is rather limp to say the least. Failure...hmmm, depends on whom is actually out there doing the bargaining.
I wouldn’t say trade with China has been anymore of a failure than Iraq has been for America. It can turn around as long as there is leadership and will that practically wishes to do so. Our trade deficit would be nearly eliminated if we had the will to ensure China’s enforcement of intellectual rights.
Bush could do it, but I suppose there’s politics beyond us on this.
ok ok ok I get the point already.
I’m going for Fred. Conservatives need to support him because he’s the next Reagan.
And that’s no small endorsement coming from me, who is to the right of Genghis Khan :)
Welcome. BTW, that’s what I call Pastrami!! Just damn!
I am very happy with Fred’s approach to China:
April 11, 2001
SENATOR THOMPSONS STATEMENT ON FUTURE OF U.S. RELATIONSHIP WITH CHINA
Washington, DC - U.S. Senator Fred Thompson (R-TN) today issued the following statement regarding the future of the United States relationship with the Peoples Republic of China in light of their detention of 24 U.S. servicemen and women for 11 days:
Hopefully, this will cause us to step back and take a realistic look at our relationship with China in a way that should have been done before this incident.
Our policies in the past have led the Chinese to believe that we are so dependent on our trade relationship that there are no consequences for their bad behavior.
Clearly, there has to be consequences for their unlawful detaining of our crew and for such things as their continued proliferation activities. Their actions are making the world a more dangerous place.
And we have to look at our export policies. The Senate is going to be debating the Export Administration Act, which involves sensitive high tech equipment going to China. Thats going to be a contentious debate. Its about balancing trade and national security.
http://web.archive.org/web/20020822205408/thompson.senate.gov/press/2001/releases/pr041101.html
**********
Senator Thompson believes that the United States has a unique role in the world given our economic prosperity, military power, and the strength of our principles, democratic ideals, and values. He believes the United States should be active in promoting the concepts of free trade and open markets, holding other countries responsible for their actions and affairs, yet acting firmly and clearly where our national interests and values are at stake.
As Chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee, Senator Thompson held more than a dozen hearings on important national security issues, including the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons) and missile technology and the relaxation of export controls and sensitive dual use items.
Last year, he introduced the China Nonproliferation Act, which confronts proliferation by key supplier countries like China and Russia to rogue nations like Iran, Iraq, and Libya. This is a dangerous problem that threatens our nations security and important interests. The bill requires an annual review of these countries proliferation activities, establishes clear standards, reasonable penalties, adequate presidential waivers, congressional oversight, and much-needed transparency.
In September, Thompson was successful in bringing the measure to the floor during the debate on Permanent Normal Trade Status for China. The debate on the Thompson amendment provided the Senator with a valuable opportunity to bring the proliferation issue to the forefront and highlight the problem for his colleagues and the nation. In the coming year, Thompson will continue his efforts to combat the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
France and Germany always had close business and trade. That didn’t stop three wars. The US was a big trader with Imperial Japan.
You supported that RINO?...:-)
well that was before Reagan so we didn’t have any good options at the time...
Well said.
If Fred Thompson’s conservative message gets out, a lot of people will remember why they re-elected Reagan in a landslide.
To say thank you to Senator & Mrs. Thompson and family, for their sacrifices now and in the future....
WE'RE GOING TO SEND THEM A THANKSGIVING DAY GIFT!
I guess we could always curl up into an isolationist fetal position like Ron Paul would like us to do or pretend none of this would be happening if we just caved in to our adversaries like the demonrats want to do, but I much prefer Reagan's and now Fred's approach.
Despite what the dims and the revisionist academia want us to believe, we are a great nation and a very good friend. Personally, I don't care if other countries like us or not, but they damn well better respect us and know for a fact that if they mess with us and/or our friends, we are going to smack them down with that big stick we should be carrying.
Was Genghis Khan in favour of small government, low taxes and individual liberty?
I have already sent Fred a donation and will be sending more. I have asked if he has a Houston office. I will be happy to volunteer to work and I want bumper stickers for our cars and yard signs. Go Fred Go!
One quibble...
In the the Air Force and I suspect others, it was not maintenance, it was lack of parts. We were maintaining the hell out of those planes. Each and every plane still had to fly at least once every 30 days, so we would swap what good parts we had from one to another. From avionics to control boxes to air valves, to entire engines.
Carter (spit on the ground) cut our Operations & Maintenance funds so deeply, we were working our backsides off to keep just under HALF of our planes flyable on any given day. This was in Europe on what was then the front lines.
Reagan fixed it, and fast. Between 6 and 8 months after his taking office we went from 45% to 95% aircraft availability and didn't have to work half as hard to do it.
You can buy them at his website; I did!
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