Posted on 03/15/2012 2:53:05 AM PDT by OwenKellogg
When the Berlin Wall collapsed and it appeared that the Soviet Union was going to break apart completely, President Clinton declared a peace dividend. Following that "declaration" of the peace dividend, our nation saw a significant reduction in the size of our military and in the size of the Special Forces, and a virtual dismantling of the human intelligence network within the intelligence community.
The impact of the peace dividend was felt on September 11, 2001, when our nation was savagely attacked by an enemy whom we misjudged and overlooked because we were woefully unprepared to detect the attack before it occurred. Our human intelligence capability in the Islamic world at that time was severely lacking.
Be it Sun Tzu in The Art of War, Clausewitz on war, or any other military strategist throughout history, the writings are clear that from a strategic perspective, it is wise to attack your enemy where he is least prepared. Attack weakness, not strength!
As a retired Marine Reserve colonel who served in Iraq in 2005 and was the Central Command Special Operations officer in late 2001 and early 2002, I recommended just that type of vulnerability-exploitation against our enemies.
With the terrorist attack on September 11, our nation responded by rebuilding the capability in human intelligence and rebuilding our military end strength.
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The planned reductions in the United States Army and the United States Marine Corps, our primary infantry forces, as well as in the United States Navy and United States Air Force, will leave our nation with such a reduced level of military capability that it will, in retrospect, make our unpreparedness for World War II seem insignificant in comparison.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
The Air Force retrained combat aviators from the 1st Gulf War into cargo planes (C-130s). Our only experienced combat aviators became cargo aviators as the military began to prepare for world peace.
Colonel Frank Ryan is right to bring this up again. The terrorists are not disarming, but our military is on the verge of being gutted.
“As a retired general friend of mine once commented, pray for peace, but prepare for war!”
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