[R-G] Guerrillas or GI Joes?

[Anthony Fenton]

http://www.edmontonsun.com/Comment/2009/04/12/pf-9088726.html

April 12, 2009
Guerrillas or GI Joes?
United States ready to retool for a future of 'expeditionary warfare'
By ERIC MARGOLIS
	

Should the U.S. military be configured to fight conventional wars  
against Russia and China or be transformed into an agile force to  
combat Third World guerrillas?

U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates finally put an end to this debate  
which has raged furiously behind the Pentagon's walls ever since the  
Soviet Empire collapsed.

Gates' newly announced defence budget makes clear that America's  
military future lies in what the Pentagon calls "expeditionary  
warfare," mostly in the Muslim world.

The British, less given to euphemisms than Americans, used to call  
their distant operations against unruly natives, "colonial warfare" or  
"little wars."

But in 1914, the British Empire's army, trained to fight colonial wars  
against Zulu, Dervishes and Afghans, met the Imperial German army and  
suffered a bloodbath.

While Gates waved his big stick at misbehaving Muslims, President  
Barack Obama was playing good cop while visiting Turkey, offering the  
"hand of friendship" to the very same Muslim world.

Though the U.S. deficit reached a staggering $1 trillion for the first  
half of 2008, military spending still will rise 4%. The Afghan and  
Iraq wars are costing $200 billion alone this year.

So much for austerity. Let's beat more plowshares into swords. No  
wonder many defence stocks rose on news of the Pentagon's new budget.  
Congressmen and lobbyists will scream when some weapons programs are  
terminated, but overall the military industrial complex is hardly  
suffering.

PRIORITY

Supporting the Afghan and Iraqi wars is now the Pentagon's priority.  
Fifty more Predator and Reaper killer drones will be acquired. They  
are the Pentagon's favourite tool for "taking out" foes in Pakistan  
and Afghanistan along, of course, with civilian "collateral damage."  
George Orwell called use of such euphemisms, "making murder  
respectable."

More special forces and advanced ground and air sensors will be  
deployed to target "terrorists" and "insurgents" (i.e. those resisting  
the American Raj). Over 500 more versatile F-35 strike aircraft will  
be purchased. Production of the magnificent stealth F-22s, costing  
$140 million apiece, will end shortly.

The army loses heavy combat vehicles and artillery systems. The U.S.  
navy loses one of its 11 carriers and some planned hi-tech destroyers.  
Coastal combat vessels for shallow water Third World operations will  
be added. A total of $12 billion of gold-plated presidential  
helicopters, worthy of some airborne mogul emperor, were postponed.

These realignments of defence spending clearly show the Obama  
administration intends to pursue a long war strategy in Afghanistan,  
Iraq, perhaps Somalia and in other future Third World hot spots  
located near major oil deposits.

President George W. Bush's so-called "war on terror" cost taxpayers  
$808 billion. Obama has renamed it "overseas contingency operations,"  
but otherwise he seems to be following Bush's lead.

UNDERMINE

What caused so much heated debate in the Pentagon -- and the heads of  
some generals such as the U.S. air force's chief of staff, Gen.  
Moseley -- is the concern that reconfiguring the U.S. military to  
fight "counter-insurgency" wars in the Muslim world will undermine  
national defence and America's ability to wage future wars against  
great powers like China, Russia or even India and Europe.

Keeping one U.S. soldier in Afghanistan costs $330,000 annually. The  
U.S. air force's fighters are an average 24 years old.

As this column recently said, Russia is planning for small wars around  
its frayed borders, but it is still retaining substantial military  
muscle.

China and India are steadily modernizing their armed forces.

The U.S. navy's carriers, America's key to strategic power projection,  
are now seriously threatened by three new weapons: China's improved,  
2,000-km range DF-21 missile that can be vectored onto carriers by  
radar, satellite and drones; Russia's 300 kph Shkval torpedo; and the  
Russian-Indian supersonic BrahMos 300-km range anti-ship missile. They  
may make U.S. carriers sitting ducks.

President Obama is making a serious mistake by focusing on guerrilla  
wars in the Muslim world while ignoring the steady erosion of U.S.  
world power caused by its financial collapse and the emergence of  
powerful new strategic rivals in Asia and Europe.

ERIC.MARGOLIS at SUNMEDIA.CA