I think defense is good, but our military is all about offense now. I fault our leaders in Washington for provoking international relations. Aren’t we clever enough to find a better way of getting along with other nations? Or must we resort to guns and bullying?
Take the Iran example. At first I was glad to hear that Bush had “all options on the table”. I was convinced by the media reports of a bad Iran. Then I heard the other nations were against our tactic, and started questioning why that is. Perhaps Iran does have peaceful intentions? Now Bush has been pressured to forego his nuclear bunker buster. But he was trying to force Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions by threatening force. Iran threatened to disrupt oil supplies. We weren’t being smart about it! Now get this: Bush sweetens the pot by offering airplanes and airplane parts in exchange for Iran’s cessation of the nuclear program, and Iran is interested in negotiating. This is exactly what should have been done from the beginning.
It is only due to our ally interference that Bush switched from nuclear bunker busters to offering airplanes in trade. But this was an intelligent solution.
I was proposing that we do more of this kind of stuff. But PD likes the weapons approach, probably because she is a military wife. Go figure…