Pentagon Rethinking Two War Strategy: It's About Time!

The Pentagon appears to be rethinking it's policy of being prepared to fight two major wars simultaneously and still having enough force left to put up a fight somewhere else.

This policy has been in place since World War II and has been the cornerstone of American military strategy . But they're re-examining the policy now that America has had two wars going on for over six years, and their resources are stretched mighty thin.

With 170,000 soldiers deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, we don't have the necessary conventional ground forces to stop a North Korean attack on South Korea or a Chinese attack on Taiwan if trouble were to break out in that part of the world right now. The Navy and Air Force would have to carry the fight to the enemy until ground troops could be redeployed in a huge hurry.

Secretary Gates is engaged in a top-to-bottom review of every aspect of planning for wars of the future. Budgeting, weapons purchases, staffing, training, and the entire gambit of planning that goes into equipping a military force is being looked at.

I'm relieved that they're looking at this, though I am troubled that it's taken six years for them to get around to it. This should have been talked about much more thoroughly before troops were sent into Iraq.

The sooner the military wraps things up in Iraq, the sooner balance can be restored to the international scene. A threat of military force against an aggressor is only effective if there is muscle behind it. North Korea has realized this, and has effectively called our bluff. They realized that no American army will materialize to threaten them if they rattle their sabers around a bit while we're still engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Iran is playing the same game; so is Venezuela. "When the cat's away the mice will play" seems to be the strategy being employed by North Korea, Venezuela and Iran; pretty soon the cat will be back, and those mice are going to start running for their lives.

Then we'll see how much they enjoy our undivided attention.