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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated
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To: LindyBill who wrote (215803)8/16/2007 6:35:26 AM
From: unclewest  Read Replies (1) of 794127
 
Recently, Ehud Barak, a former army chief of staff and perhaps Israel's most celebrated soldier took over as Defense Minister. He promptly undertook a study of why Israel's military did not perform better last year. He found two major causes. First, the army was under-prepared for war because its focus had shifted to, in essence, police work and counter-terrorism. Second, the military was far more averse to accepting casualties than in previous wars.

Today, America is making both mistakes.

The Israelis made their forces more SOF like and lost a war. Many conventional American generals are proposing a similar conversion for our army. History is replete with examples of why that should not be done.
We must maintain a strong army capable of success in an offensive land campaign. That should not even be open for discussion.

Counter terrorism (CT) is a defensive mode. Our primary Counter terrorism effort at home is defense - for example Department of Homeland Security.
When our CT forces go on the offense it is nearly always reactionary. Defense has its role in combat. But defense never won any war I've studied.

Force protection is always an important consideration. But once we commit the people's army to battle, as our leaders (and the Israeli leaders)have done, winning the war surpasses all other considerations.
Losing jeopardizes the very foundation of our nation's security. There is no greater threat or risk to The Constitution of the United States than losing a war.
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