NYT. Friedman. How to prepare for the war. My take: we are on an inevitable path to a major strategic shift in how we allocate our military power globally. We are going to shift from Europe to the Middle East. Currently, we have ~150,000 troops in Europe. The bulk of those forces will likely end up in Iraq on a permanent basis, after we successfully invade. In a year, we will be in the Middle East to stay.
Are most American’s even remotely aware what an occupation force like this would entail? The burdens of expected of us? No. Certainly not. They haven’t been prepared to accept the costs, the casualties, the terrorist trauma, and the global public opinion backlash. Friedman tries to address some of the burdens of this grand strategy in his article, but he falls short. [John Robb’s Radio Weblog]
On War
