Analysts: Air power necessary if new threat arisesBy William H. McMichael - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Jan 14, 2008 5:58:25 EST
If the U.S. were to face a new conventional threat, its military could not respond effectively without turning to air power, officials and analysts say.
That is the ultimate upshot of the war in Iraq: a response elsewhere would consist largely of U.S. fighters and bombers — even, perhaps, some degree of nuclear strike — because so many ground troops are tied up in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
And that leaves at least some senior U.S. leaders and analysts crossing their fingers.
“I believe that we, as a nation, are at risk of mission failure should our Army be called to deploy to an emerging threat,” Rep. Solomon Ortiz, D-Texas, chairman of the House Armed Services readiness subcommittee, said last year, basing his assessment on classified Army readiness reports.
“Iraq is sort of sucking all the oxygen out of the room,” said Tammy Schultz, who studies ground forces for the Center for a New American Security, a relatively new Washington think tank dedicated to “strong, pragmatic and principled” security and defense policies.
Rest of article at:
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/01/marine_stretched_080113w/uhc comment: Meet the Center for a New American Security:
http://www.cnas.org/en/cms/?32
Board of Directors
The Honorable Dr. William J. Perry, Chairman of the Board
Professor and Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace
Stanford University
The Honorable Dr. Madeleine K. Albright
Principal, The Albright Group LLC
The Honorable Richard L. Armitage
President, Armitage International
Norman R. Augustine
Former Chairman, Executive Committee, Lockheed Martin Corporation
Admiral Dennis C. Blair, USN (Ret.)
Former Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Pacific Command
The Honorable Dr. Richard J. Danzig
Sam Nunn Prize Fellow, Center for Strategic and International Studies
The Honorable William J. Lynn
Senior Vice President, Government Operations & Strategy, Raytheon Company
The Honorable Dr. Leo S. Mackay, Jr.
Vice President, Corporate Business Development, Lockheed Martin Corporation
LtGen Greg S. Newbold, USMC (Ret.)
Managing Director, Torch Hill Capital
John D. Podesta
President and CEO, Center for American Progress
Dr. Mitchell Reiss
Vice Provost for International Affairs, College of William & Mary
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National Security Network
Steve Biegun
Vice President for International Governmental Affairs, Ford Motor Company
Dr. Hans Binnendijk
Former Senior Director for Defense Policy, U.S. National Security Council
Dr. Ashton Carter
Ford Foundation Professor of Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Dr. Peter Feaver
Alexander F. Hehmeyer Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, Duke University
Dr. Michael Green
Senior Advisor and Japan Chair, Center for Strategic and International Studies
LtGen Wallace Gregson, USMC, Jr., (Ret.)
WCG & Associates International, LLC
Andrew Hoehn
Vice President and Director, Project Air Force, RAND Corporation
Dr. Michael O'Hanlon
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Partner, Armitage International LLC
Sarah Sewall
Director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, Harvard University
Ambassador Wendy Sherman
Principal, The Albright Group LLC
Gayle Smith
Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress
James Steinberg
Dean, LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin
Dr. Edward (Ted) Warner III
Principal, Booz Allen Hamilton