Compelled interdependence. (Insider Report).

"President George Bush decided to turn to the United Nations after being advised that the U.S. military was unprepared for a war with Iraq," reported World Tribune.com on September 24th. "Western diplomatic sources said Bush's surprise call for the return of UN weapons inspectors stemmed from a recommendation by the Joint Chiefs of Staff that the United States required up to six more months to prepare for any war against the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. The sources said U.S. Central Command was preoccupied with the war in Afghanistan and possessed insufficient assets, logistics, and supplies in countries that neighbor Iraq."

For those familiar with the priorities of the internationalist clique behind the Bush administration, there was nothing surprising about Mr. Bush's decision to turn to the UN. Nevertheless, this account does underscore an important point: Because of our nation's continuing entanglement in UN-mandated occupations overseas, and the Clinton-era attrition of our own military, we are being manipulated into a status of artificial interdependence.

A study by the Army's Center of Military History suggests that our situation will grow considerably worse if we carry out the envisioned invasion and occupation of Iraq. As summarized by the Washington Post, the study found that "the U.S. military would have to commit 300,000 peacekeeping troops in Afghanistan and 100,000 in Iraq if it were to occupy and reconstruct those nations on the scale that occurred in Japan and Germany after World War II."

"One fact is that where we go, we tend to stay, and the list is increasing," commented an Army officer involved in the study. With our army reduced to 10 active duty divisions from the 18 it had at the time of the 1991 Gulf War, and ongoing UN-dictated commitments in Korea, Afghanistan, and the Balkans, "an invasion of Iraq at the same level as in the Gulf War would essentially require the rest of the Army," notes the Post.