Posted on Nov 17, 2018
2 Reports On The U.S. Military, 2 Different Messages
653
3
3
2
2
0
Two new reports on the U.S. military were released Wednesday, and they offered contradictory messages.
One from the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University calculated that the U.S. has spent, or is obligated to spend, $5.9 trillion for wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere since 2001. The U.S. has fallen far short of its goals in these wars, and many of these costs are largely hidden because they don't fall directly under the Pentagon, the report added.
The other report, by the National Defense Strategy Commission, a group of 12 former Republican, Democratic and national security officials, said U.S. security is "at greater risk than at any time in decades." It urged a ramping up of military preparedness on multiple fronts. It warned that the U.S. could potentially lose a war with Russia or China.
The Brown University report said that 480,000 people have been killed as a direct result of the wars in which the U.S. has been involved. More than 10 million civilians have been displaced in their home countries or become refugees abroad.
One from the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University calculated that the U.S. has spent, or is obligated to spend, $5.9 trillion for wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere since 2001. The U.S. has fallen far short of its goals in these wars, and many of these costs are largely hidden because they don't fall directly under the Pentagon, the report added.
The other report, by the National Defense Strategy Commission, a group of 12 former Republican, Democratic and national security officials, said U.S. security is "at greater risk than at any time in decades." It urged a ramping up of military preparedness on multiple fronts. It warned that the U.S. could potentially lose a war with Russia or China.
The Brown University report said that 480,000 people have been killed as a direct result of the wars in which the U.S. has been involved. More than 10 million civilians have been displaced in their home countries or become refugees abroad.
2 Reports On The U.S. Military, 2 Different Messages
Posted from npr.org
Budget
Money
Afghanistan
Iraq
Pentagon
Posted 6 y ago
Responses: 2
1
1
0
I'm not sure these are two different messages. They're both exposing the same failure of policy and strategy.
(1)
(0)
0
0
0
PO1 William "Chip" Nagel I don't see how these are contradictory, one is retrospective and the other is forecasted. Just because we spent $5.9T to handle the global war on terror (everything since 2001) doesn't mean near peer competitors we're going to stand by at the top of the cliff like Indigo Montoya and wait for us to climb up. Surprised they didn't just wind up and kick us in the junk while we were completely engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan. Probably so they had time to prepare, posture, and stage. China started in earnest in 2004/2005 buying up steel. Low and behold, blue water navy build up.
Addendum: some of the cost was undoubtedly DoS and their efforts.
Addendum: some of the cost was undoubtedly DoS and their efforts.
(0)
(0)
LTC Jason Mackay
From the Exec Sum "As regional military balances have deteriorated, America’s advantage across a range of operational challenges has diminished. Because of our recent focus on counter-terrorism and counterinsurgency, and because our enemies have developed new ways of defeating U.S. forces, America is losing its advantage in key warfighting areas such as power projection, air and missile defense, cyber and space operations, anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare, long-range ground-based fires, and electronic warfare. Many of the skills necessary to plan for and conduct military operations against capable adversaries—especially China and Russia— have atrophied."
(0)
(0)
Read This Next
Continue with Facebook 
Continue with Google