Recent developments in the Middle East have driven home two points that members of the Navy/Marine Corps team have known for decades: The U.S. needs more aircraft carriers and more Marines to man Amphibious Ready Groups. This will be even more true in the future than it has been in the past. The early stages of Operation Enduring Freedom were complicated by the refusal of several key Middle East "allies" to allow U.S. forces to stage out of U.S. facilities within their borders. The key example has been Saudi Arabia. Not only did Saudi Arabia not allow U.S. aircraft to...