Army under stress.Excellent viewpoint by William J. Perry and Michele A. Flournoy, in the May 2006 issue, "U.S. Military; under Strain and at Risk." Expressed is the military's woe in part due to failed public support. At the core may well be the very nature of the Iraq war Iraq War: see under Persian Gulf Wars. Iraq War or Second Persian Gulf War Brief conflict in 2003 between Iraq and a combined force of troops largely from the U.S. and Great Britain; and a subsequent U.S. itself; its lack of moral cause as surfacing reports of military misconduct just begin to reveal. Only the foolish now actually believe the war is being fought to combat terrorism. Monetary incentives to idealistic men and women who are to fight our nation's wars will do little to alter the military's personnel crisis. Moral cause cannot be created by bribe BRIBE, crim. law. The gift or promise, which is accepted, of some advantage, as the inducement for some illegal act or omission; or of some illegal emolument, as a consideration, for preferring one person to another, in the performance of a legal act. . As the Iraq war reveals itself to be little more then an aggression of blatant ambitions, another woe debuts. That being the financial drain from defense expenditures caused by sustaining war operations for long periods. Already many naval ship A naval ship is a ship (or sometimes boat, depending on classification) used for combat purposes, commonly by a navy. Naval ships are differentiated from civilian ships by construction and purpose. procurements have been curtailed. Similar capital drain will eventually propagate prop·a·gate v. 1. To cause an organism to multiply or breed. 2. To breed offspring. 3. To transmit characteristics from one generation to another. 4. throughout every facet of the defense industry so long as the war proceeds. Current industry profits will be short lived. With the prospect of dwindling dwin·dle v. dwin·dled, dwin·dling, dwin·dles v.intr. To become gradually less until little remains. v.tr. To cause to dwindle. See Synonyms at decrease. revenues, industry will ultimately step away from the DoD in search of green pasture. Indeed as the viewpoint implies, the U.S. military and also the rest of the U.S. defense establishment is in quite a pickle pickle, general term for fruits or vegetables preserved in vinegar or brine, usually with spices or sugar or both. Vegetables commonly pickled include the beet, cabbage, cauliflower, cucumber, olive, onion, pepper, and tomato. . For its own future health, probably the best course of action the defense establishment can take is to address directly the source of the woes by seeing to the termination of the folly in Iraq. Robert Stumm Hampton, VA |
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