It's high time to fight, but is the U.S. ready?

It's high time to fight, but is the U.S. ready?

ATLANTA
November 20, 1998

I love the United States Marine Corps. Marines embody the kind of take-no-prisoners mentality that used to epitomize all branches of the U.S. military. Marines still value the kind of rough, fundamental war-fighting ideals that carried our military onto the beaches of France, through the waters of the south Pacific and into the sky above Iraq. The Marine Corps' most impressive pedigree, however, is that they have managed to maintain their basic values despite the efforts of the hideous, anti-military civilian regime, headed by William Jefferson Clinton, that descended upon this country in 1992.

It appears as if the United States Armed Forces will never again be the same. Massive budget cutbacks have placed defense initiatives on the back burner of the nation's agenda. Bill Clinton has on several occasions publicly expressed his disdain for the military and it seems as if his entire administration has followed suit. Not surprisingly, liberals in Congress, particularly within the budget-making House of Representatives, have followed Clinton's lead, as well.

Since 1992, the U.S. defense budget has been slashed a frighteningly huge percentage. Many defense experts have expressed the depressing sentiment that the U.S. military could not come close to matching its performance in the Persian Gulf War. There just aren't enough resources, enough men, enough motivation. The most powerful nation in the world and accepted world leader has downsized its military to the point of global embarrassment.

Every freakish, irrational leader of every rogue state in the world is watching our military's decline with joy (yes, this list includes France). We can be sure that Saddam Hussein is watching our military's decline in ecstasy, as well. He could not play games with President George Bush. Yet, Hussein has been toying with Clinton since this former Governor of Arkansas took office.

Clinton has absorbed numerous Iraqi insults, threats and offenses and has called off no less than two missile attacks. Clinton is our military's Commander-in-Chief, yet he cannot exude the fortitude, determination or commitment necessary to deter or coerce the backward dictator of a third world desert-nation. With Bill Clinton at the helm of our virtually deserted ship, we cannot back-up our threats or make good on our promises.

The men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces are watching the decline, as well. They know the military has been neglected when there are more Air Force planes than pilots, when possible recruits chose more profitable career paths and when a record number of bases sit empty. They know the military has been transformed into a liberal civilian's dream when gay soldiers demand special treatment, when hazing is no longer an accepted form of discipline and when the Assistant Secretary of the Army calls Marines "extremists." Our men and women in uniform know the U.S. military is in decline when the draft-dodging, socialist Commander-in-Chief prefers humanitarian missions to strategic initiatives.

Instead of downsizing the military, our nation's leaders should focus on downsizing our bureaucratic government. The original, bare-bones purpose of government was to provide for the defense of a nation's citizens. We should strive to model our government to this ideal. Without question, the military should be the most important entity within the government as well as its premiere responsibility. Funding should be reallocated to the defense budget from social initiatives.

The United States should never flinch at punishing states that directly threaten our national interests. We shouldn't have to flinch because of an inept leader or a weakened fighting force. The armed forces are one of the United States' most important assets. We must maintain our international superiority by letting them all become more like Marines again. Kill 'em all.

Copyright © 1998 by Gregory S. Scherrer, Editor and by the Student Publications Board

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