U.S. military plan casts wary eye at China

(CBS News) 

The Cold War is long over. The hot war in Iraq just ended. And America's future in Afghanistan is uncertain.

Now the commander-in-chief has decided it's time for a major overhaul of the U.S. military.

At the Pentagon on Thursday, President Obama announced plans for a "leaner" fighting force, while maintaining America's military superiority.

Republican criticism came quickly. House Armed Services Chairman Buck McKeon called it "a lead-from-behind strategy for a left-behind America."

CBS News correspondent David Martin reports that the president came to the Pentagon to make sure everybody understands this is his strategy, a strategy he will run for re-election on. If you reduced it to a bumper sticker, it would say: "No more wars like Iraq and Afghanistan."

"As we look beyond the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the end of long-term, nation building with large military footprints, we'll be able to ensure our security with smaller, conventional ground forces," Mr. Obama said.

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The president and his advisers held up Libya -- where the U.S. committed air and naval power but no land forces -- as a model for future wars. And Joint Chiefs Chairman Martin Dempsey cited the Pacific as the future theater of competition, if not conflict.

"All of the trends, demographic trends, geopolitical trends, economic trends and military trends are shifting toward the Pacific," Dempsey said.

Dempsey is talking about the rise of China. That and the hard-learned lesson that the U.S. could not afford to fight two wars simultaneously in Iraq and Afghanistan are perhaps the biggest game changers of the past decade. You could say the new strategy is finally catching up with the real world. According to Defense Secretary Panetta, it adds up to a smaller Army and Marine Corps, and more air and sea power.

"It will be more agile, more flexible, ready to deploy quickly, innovative and technologically advanced," Panetta said.

If that sounds familiar, it's because Donald Rumsfeld said much the same thing when he was defense secretary -- before 9/11 changed the world. A smaller force comes with risks, since it leaves less of a margin for error when the unexpected hits. But Joint Chiefs Chairman Dempsey said sticking with the current strategy -- and the resulting budget deficit -- would be even riskier.

The Pentagon's budget will continue to grow, just not as fast as it has since 9/11, and the president pointed out that the U.S. still spends more on defense than the next 10 countries combined.

[melbatom]

We have looked at China for many many years. If you will recall even back in the time of the Korean Conflict we lost several P2V's that traveled the cost line of China monitoring their communication and location of military forces. Also we photographed their air bases to the point you could count the number of ribbets in the the wing of a plane and watch maintenance men on the field smoke! That was in 1955! You can bet we do better today. No one can attack without massing military materials so watching an enemy that might attack is critical. We have suffered through these revamping of military use for security several times and survived in every case. No reason not to see that as the result now.

[hypnotoad72]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jan/04/china-airlines-eu-carbon-tax

Well, that's the update.

Not good news.

Not good for the global community, either. :(

[RobAla]

Like irresponsible idiots, the leadership in Washington has been massively overspending and borrowing boatloads of money from China. This has resulted in the US paying more than $300 billion to China in interest money each year. China is massively building a military with much of that money. The question that should be raised is "why?".

For those who think I am only putting down President Obama, I am not. For years, the US has been doing this stupidity of massively going in debt. In 8 years, President Bush added $4.4 trillion to the national debt. President Obama has added $4.4 trillion to the national debt in only 3 years. Nevertheless, this stupid practice has been going on for some time - and it has to stop.

I am not a military expert, but if I lived in Taiwan I would be very uncomfortable right now. Taiwan is a US ally, so an invasion of Taiwan would put the US in a difficult position.

[matt605]

Our plan is to suspend payment on the trillions we owe China until they withdraw their troops from Taiwan. Now we just need them to invade.

[jojobeat]

After every big conflict there is a shakedown of the army/military. After my unit returned from Desert Storm there was a major reorganization of the military and we downsized big time. This is nothing new and will be repeated after the troops are pulled out of Afghanistan. We heard of all the dangers of a smaller military in the past, we will adapt and overcome as we did before! God bless our troops and America as a whole!

[skeezix06]

We can't afford it.

[Customerx]

Republican criticism came quickly. House Armed Services Chairman Buck McKeon called it "a lead-from-behind strategy for a left-behind America."First elected in 1992, McKeon, a former small business owner, represents California's Twenty-Fifth Congressional District, which includes Fort Irwin, Edwards Air Force Base, Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, the Marine Mountain Warfare Training Center, the Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow, the Air Force's Research Laboratory Propulsion Directorate and Air Force Plant 42.



When I read that sentence I am reminded that he was missing in action when our troops were writing home for bullit proof vests, begging their parents and relatives/friends to quickly buy them and ship them because their was a major shortage. He was also missing in action when our troops were being slaughtered by roadside bombs because they failed to secure ammo dumps and the bombs were being made from artillary shells from those ammo dumps, shredding our trucks. Took him years to finally get vehicles that protected our troops with v bottoms to deflect blasts.

For a guy elected in 1992, he stinks of corruption in DC and should be removed.

[pammmmmm]

China worries me...I think that North America is too late to make a stand against them. Maybe learning Mandarin should be on the agenda.

[ainttaken]

not to fret my hopeless friend
the income disparity in china is even greater than here and social unrest is getting more vibrant everyday. They have their own problems.

[ainttaken]

NikiWiki January 5, 2012 9:17 PM EST
The Saudis spend 10 percent of their GNP on defense. It is primarily their oil that is being exported through the Strait of Hormuz.
Why don't we let the Saudis deal with Iran and their threat to close the Strait. It is not The United States of America's responsibility to see to it that the Saudi's make a profit. Let's get some of our so called allies into the game.
----------------------------------------
it is not only Saudi oil but also Exxon and other giant oil companies oil.
Not only are the wealthy getting all the tax breaks....'specially oil companies ....they want everyone else to pay for their protection when they could afford their own private army and navy from the money we throw at the gas pump let alone middle class tax rates.

[mecanik-2009]

A country does not invest money into a country it would consider invading. It's silly to even think of it. We are in a economic war with China, not a military one. Ron Paul has the best plan for getting us out of this economic disaster. Get the government out of the way and create an environment that business will invest in. Make it a tax advantage for business to create jobs here in the United States instead of overseas.

[netjunkie1]

The economic war is over, China won.
India is coming on strong, and they are our allies.
The US will remain 3rd..in the next 50 years.
But it's not all bad, China's populace is their economy.
India's populace and strong intellect is their quality.
The US is lucky to be where we are considering how China has wasted itself over the last 300 years of history.
Britan knew this when Victoria invaded them.