For years, sane observers have noted that the decision to tie up the bulk of our Army in Iraq was strategically dangerous. By overextending our military, the thinking went, the U.S. would be left with limited options should another, more dangerous conflict emerge. And there was always the fear that such an overextension could, in fact, embolden our enemies to take advantage of the situation.
But John McCain was never fazed by this rationale. The question never seemed to occur to him, and he has since spent months advocating for a hundred years in Iraq, a surge in Afghanistan, a war with Iran, and now, he's blustering for still more. In fact, McCain's recklessness in this regard is what now drives both the Russian advance on Georgia and his own insane desire for war against what he sees as the old "KGB."
Because John McCain seems as though he wants to progress beyond simply talking with Russia. Here's what he said yesterday:
"Today, many are dead and Georgia is in crisis, yet the Obama campaign has offered nothing more than cheap and petty political attacks that are echoed only by the Kremlin," said McCain aide Tucker Bounds in the statement. "The reaction of the Obama campaign to this crisis, so at odds with our democratic allies and yet so bizarrely in sync with Moscow, doesn't merely raise questions about Sen. Obama's judgment -- it answers them."
So what's McCain implying here? That words aren't enough in dealing with Russia? Because this is what Obama had said previously:
"I condemn Russia's aggressive actions and reiterate my call for an immediate ceasefire," Obama said in a statement.
"Russia must stop its bombing campaign, cease flights of Russian aircraft in Georgian airspace, and withdraw its ground forces from Georgia."
If a stance like that isn't good enough, and McCain really does want a fight with his old Soviet nemesis, then I have to wonder what U.S. military forces McCain would propose to use -- as this goes back to the readiness/national security argument against the Iraq War. It's the whole "what-if-another-conflict-broke-out-what-would-we-do-then" scenario. McCain has been so irresponsible on Iraq, that even if we all wanted to rush our forces in to defend Georgia, we wouldn't have the capacity. Everything is tied up. Every combat unit in the Army is either overseas, preparing to go, or is recovering from a recent deployment.
And Russia knows that ... just like Iran and everyone else. That figures heavily into the reason why Russia has felt so emboldened during this period. The United States has neither the moral authority, nor the military forces with which to realistically intimidate them any longer. And, at bottom, that's the most troubling aspect of this situation: Because the ability to intimidate, or, rather, "deter," has been precisely the purpose of our professional military since the Cold War. Deterrence -- our ability to influence other state actors with unacceptable damage through economic and military might -- is what truly made us a world power. It was never about the actual number of enemy killed on the battlefield. It was about how frightened of us other countries were. It was peace through strength.
And it now seems as though we've lost that ability. This is one of the most egregious examples of how the Bush, Cheney, and McCain line of thinking has not only destroyed our military, but endangered our national security as well.
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