Gates Calls For Increased Military

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has requested an increase in the active duty United States Army and Marine Corps of 92,000 troops. Frankly, the increase is long overdue and reflects the overzealous reduction in the standing military during the Clinton administration. This is actually a fairly common theme in US history, however. The military has traditionally been cut too hard after a war, the end of the Cold War was no different.

The permanent increase of 65,000 soldiers and 27,000 Marines would cost more than $10 billion annually and take five years to achieve, underscoring the Pentagon's conviction that today's wars and anti-terrorism operations will endure for many years. "We call those 'long war' forces," a senior military official said.

The growth also reflects mounting concern among Army leaders over a deepening readiness crisis, as repeated war-zone rotations have worn out troops and equipment, leaving two-thirds of Army combat units in the United States unprepared to deploy. The active-duty Army would increase to 547,000 troops and the Marine Corps to 202,000.

"It will take some time for these new troops to become available for deployment, but it is important that our men and women in uniform know that additional manpower and resources are on the way," Gates told a packed House Armed Services Committee hearing yesterday. Lawmakers have expressed bipartisan support for permanent growth of the military over the past few years and applauded the proposal.

Gates also announced a politically sensitive policy change to allow the remobilization of National Guard and reserve units, in which thousands of reservists who have already served in Iraq could be involuntarily called up for another tour. The major changes — both sharp reversals from the direction taken by former defense secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld — show that Gates is moving on issues that had festered for years at the Pentagon.

The problem has always been that it is easy to cut the armed forces after a war and funnel the "savings" to some other program. The realization that this has turned out to have been a bad decision usually comes several years  - or even a few decades - later when the next war hits. That fixing the shortage later inevitably costs more than it would have to not cut as deeply is a lesson we Americans never seem to get. The increases appear to have widespread support in Congress, so it should not be difficult to get the legislation passed. Hopefully.

RPG Hits Us Embassy In Greece

Authorities now say the explosion at the US embassy in Athens was cause by a rocket propelled grenade (RPG-18) fired from a building across the street from the US compound. At this time the police are saying it was Greek leftists who launched the attack. They have actually done exactly that once before in 1996.

"There are one or two anonymous phone calls which claim that the Revolutionary Struggle was behind the attack," Public Order Minister Byron Polydoras told reporters outside the embassy. "Most likely, it is an act by local perpetrators."

The leftist guerrilla group has emerged as the most serious domestic threat since the dismantling of the deadly November 17 group in 2002. It claimed an assassination attempt against Greece's culture minister in May and a bomb at the Economy Ministry which wounded two people 13 months ago.

"I am treating this as a very serious attack," U.S. ambassador to Athens, Charles Ries, told reporters. "The embassy was attacked in a senseless act of violence."

Police said an east European-made RPG-18 rocket launcher was used to fire the grenade, which landed inside a toilet on the third floor, slightly damaging the glass facade and ceiling. The portable launcher has not been found.

The RPG-18 used a High Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT) warhead and is a single use weapon. Here is a chronology of terror attacks that describe the 1996 rocket attack in Athens. Absent a lucky break, this may take time for the Greek authorities to unravel - if they ever actually catch the perpetrators. The government and Greek political parties are actively and vocally condemning the attack and are vowing to catch the guilty parties, so we'll see.

WordPress Themes