Why defend America's old strategic posture?
Gary Schmitt and Thomas Donnelly take a look at the Simpson/Bowles deficit cutting proposal:
No, what ultimately drives their push for defense cuts is the idea of, in Bowles and Simpsonâ??s phrase, â??rethinking our 21st century global role.â? This is shorthand for a reduced American role in the world. What the libertarian right and liberal left want, in other words, is nothing short of a reversal in Americaâ??s six-decade-long strategic posture.America certainly faces a budget crisis. And to the degree that economies can be found in the Pentagon budget, they ought to be found. But people should not kid themselves: Proposals for treating defense as if it were on an equal footing with the Department of Education are not about getting Americaâ??s fiscal house in order. They are back door efforts to reduce Americaâ??s global leadership role.
The funny thing about this argument is that it contains the seeds of its own refutation. We have, as the authors admit, a strategic posture that dates back sixty years, back when the world was a considerably different place. Why wouldn't you want to rethink that posture in light of both America's budgetary capacity and the geopolitical circumstances?
(AP Photo)
