JordanT: I wasn’t talking about the US Army. This is, first and foremost, a European problem. Between NATO and CSCE, there are sufficient grounds for action. And, yes, I’m aware that Georgia is not a member of NATO, but Russia’s saber rattling has wider implications for Europe as a whole. You’ll notice the deafening silence emanating from Germany and Italy at present as well.
We’re “bogged down” in Iraq and Afghanistan? Really? According to whom? The combat phase of Iraq is essentially over and the problems in Afghanistan are largely a function of the hand over to NATO and UN forces, most of which don’t like to venture off of their bases and actually engage the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
As to the readiness state of our military, even if we were at a maximum state of readiness, we lack sufficent offensive power to conduct a war of maneuver in Europe, and that is thanks to Dubya’s daddy and Clinton and the massive reductions in force of our first line armored, mechanized and infantry divisions. The best we could do at this point is send in the 82d Airborne and hope Putin doesn’t call our bluff.
