Saturday, March 12, 2005
Rethinking the Military
Take a look at our modern American military, taking form over the last 50 years. All are highly trained professionals, especially in combat and peacekeeping. Peacekeeping. Hmmm, maybe we need to focus on this one. Our men and women who serve no longer need to focus so much on combat as they once did, and instead need to branch more and more into an international police force. This may go against conventional wisdom, but the truth is, we are the world's police, making sure that human rights violations are minimal (if we weren't stretched so thin, we could aid Darfur), and that dictators lose power as soon as possible. Used to be the United Nations worked as a police force, as well as a forum for diplomacy. These days, however, the UN has become a rogue nation in and of itself, controled by the power hungry and egotistical.
We're losing more soldiers after the war in Iraq was declared won than during combat. This isn't due so much to an increase in insurgents (although undeniably part of the promblem), but the soldiers inability to cope with a national police force mentality. Our job in Iraq has gone from deposing a dictator, to quelling regional conflicts, not something the military is proficient in. The Armed Services would do well to recruit more Police Officers, people who understand complex yet localized conflicts. Rule of law must become the norm in Iraq, and the US Military was trained to bring down the status quo, not to enforce the status quo's replacement.
I'd feel much safer if we brought the most of the troops home from Iraq, and in their place sent both the LAPD and NYPD. I'm not sure why the military hasn't begun developing police programs, they're almost a necessity in this new era in defense. Will we ever see any change? Probably not. But it would be nice if the Defence Department would at least give some thought of change.
We're losing more soldiers after the war in Iraq was declared won than during combat. This isn't due so much to an increase in insurgents (although undeniably part of the promblem), but the soldiers inability to cope with a national police force mentality. Our job in Iraq has gone from deposing a dictator, to quelling regional conflicts, not something the military is proficient in. The Armed Services would do well to recruit more Police Officers, people who understand complex yet localized conflicts. Rule of law must become the norm in Iraq, and the US Military was trained to bring down the status quo, not to enforce the status quo's replacement.
I'd feel much safer if we brought the most of the troops home from Iraq, and in their place sent both the LAPD and NYPD. I'm not sure why the military hasn't begun developing police programs, they're almost a necessity in this new era in defense. Will we ever see any change? Probably not. But it would be nice if the Defence Department would at least give some thought of change.
