Looking beyond Iraq war: Changing our political and military priorities

I was disappointed to hear the secretary of defense recently say that the U.S. military must prepare more for fighting future wars against insurgents and militias such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan, rather than spend time and money preparing for conventional conflicts.

I find these comments to be misguided and lacking in strategic vision at a time when not one combat unit in the United States is rated as combat-ready.

Overemphasizing the Defense Department’s focus on training and equipping for counterinsurgency missions appears to be simply a rationalization of short-term budget decisions made in the waning months of this administration.

These decisions have left the armed forces in a degraded state of readiness; they have left the facilities that directly impact service personnel’s quality of life in disrepair; and they have left many Defense acquisition programs broken or badly damaged. These decisions fail to take into account the potential missions the U.S. armed forces must prepare for, and may have to undertake, in the years ahead.

We need a National Security Strategy to identify both the near-term and long-term threats to this country. We need a vigorous debate that is required to achieve this strategy — this hasn’t happened since the Cold War.

This country spends more money on intelligence than all the nations of the world combined, and as I’ve observed, our intelligence is about as accurate as Punxsutawney Phil — 50 percent. Fifty percent is unacceptable.

We can no longer be the world’s policeman. We need to rebuild our diplomatic alliances and we need to restore our international credibility.

Our military and diplomatic force must include the strength of our allies. We cannot do it alone. For the past eight years, we’ve looked at the world through solely a U.S. military lens. We’ve learned that this does not work.

It is time to look beyond Iraq and focus on the future threats. The supplemental war-funding bill that Congress is now considering accomplishes two objectives:

1) It focuses on improving the readiness and capability of our non-deployed units.

2) And in the absence of a National Security Strategy, it provides our military with equipment that will prepare them to face future threats under any scenario.

The legislation includes funding to procure 15 C-17 aircraft; 34 C-130 aircraft; additional funding for National Guard and Reserve equipment, HMMWVs, and medium and heavy tactical trucks; funding for Army and Marine Corps facility maintenance and repairs (this includes barracks); funding for facility maintenance and repairs at DoD medical treatment facilities; and additional funding for treatment and research activities within the Defense Health Program.

A strong military is essential to not only winning a war, but preventing a war. We must look beyond the war in Iraq, rebuild our military and be prepared to face future conflicts.

Murtha is a member of the House Appropriations Committee.