Steve's Blog

The Obama Administration has just announced that it will shrink the U.S. Army to levels we haven’t seen since before World War II. Is the world a safer place? Hardly.

We see turmoil around much of the world. Syria continues to unravel, threatening to boil over throughout the region, and threaten vital U.S. interests. Iran, the greatest supporter of terrorism on earth, is on the way to acquiring nuclear weapons, even though the Obama Administration goes through the motions of talking about talking about, maybe, slowing Iran’s nuclear program, maybe. Iraq is coming apart at the seams, North Korea continues to be a menace, with a madman at the helm.

And the People’s Republic of China, Red China, that bastion of freedom and democracy, is engaged in an unprecedented military build-up, which will make their military a direct threat to ours in the very near future. China has had double-digit growth in their military spending every year for the last 25 years! Not only have they been threatening to occupy and confiscate the islands, and accompanying mineral resources, from many of their neighbors (U.S. allies), but China, without a legal right to do so, recently declared an air-defense zone in the region, requiring other countries (including the United States) to report to China when flying through this zone, or risk being shot down. It appears that China intends to push the envelope, see just how much they can get away with, now that the Obama Administration is seen by much of the world as weak, indecisive, and in retreat.

So as China continues to build up its military capabilities, and get economically and militarily stronger, with no end in sight, Obama proposes to weaken our defense forces.

Here are some of the numbers. President Obama, through his Defense Secretary, Chuck Hagel, has proposed a 13% cut in the U.S. Army, a 5% cut in the Reserve, and the complete elimination of the Air Force’s A-10 “Warthog” tank-killer aircraft, and all our U-2 spy planes.

If that’s not bad enough, the direction Obama has set for the U.S. Navy, is arguably even worse. Whereas Ronald Reagan famously advocated a 600 ship Navy, and as president, Reagan got our number of ships to well over 530, and on the way to 600, the Obama Administration has us down to 283 ships, and is heading down from there! He even tried to eliminate one of our 11 aircraft carriers; but for the time being, has backed off. For now. Every one of our carriers is critical to project American power, and options, around the globe.

As a Member of Congress, and as an American, the thing I find so frustrating about this president, is that he’s fine with spending money, heck, throwing money, at bloated Stimulus packages, doubling the number of people on food stamps, and the bottomless pit of Obamacare; but when it comes to our one critical government expenditure, the defense of our nation, get out the chainsaw and lets cut away. It’s wrong-headed, it’s short-sided, it’s penny-wise and pound-foolish, and it’s dangerous.

The purpose of a strong defense is, of course, having it ready if you need it. But even more importantly, a strong defense, ideally, avoids military action altogether, because potential enemies fear the consequences of initiating aggression. Peace through strength.

Fortunately, to carry out the previously discussed military cuts, President Obama will have to come to Congress. (He won’t get my vote.) Of course with this president, we have to be prepared for the possibility, that he tries to circumvent the law, and the Constitution, and acts by executive order.

Post Script: In last week’s blog covering Asia, I had included several photographs, including my meetings with Prime Minister Abe of Japan, and President Park of South Korea. Since I hadn’t yet met with Taiwan, Hong Kong, or the Philippines’ leaders at the time of the posting of the blog, I couldn’t include them in last week’s blog. Here they are, plus one taken in the typhoon-hit area of the Philippines: