Obama’s deadly defense cuts

In foreign policy, writes former Sen. Malcolm Wallop, seemingly minor signals can have far-reaching consequences. In a Newsmax piece, Wallop, a U.S. leader on defense and foreign-policy issues, details how the Obama administration’s proposed cuts in the area of missile defense are sending the message to the world that the United States does not have the will to deter aggression. He writes,

The Obama administration’s proposed defense budget cuts—particularly the deep cuts to our homeland missile defense system—are signaling North Korea and Iran that we do not have the will to counter their aggressive actions. In response, Iran and North Korea have tested ballistic missiles or nuclear weapons on numerous occasions, flouting decades of diplomatic nonproliferation efforts and nudging the U.S. onto a crash course towards armed conflict.

We might add that the U.S. is sending a signal of its weakness to more countries than just North Korea and Iran: Rising powers such as Europe, Russia and China would also be reading the signal clearly. Wallop goes on,

Wisely, North Korea and Iran are watching the money trail. The Pentagon’s proposed 2010 budget would cut the funding for homeland missile defense—known as the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system, or gmd—in half, allowing the U.S.’s only defense against long-range ballistic missiles to stall and eventually become obsolete.The budget halts the installation of interceptor missiles in silos in Alaska and California, leaving us approximately a dozen missiles short of what security analysis has shown we need to counter the threat from North Korea. The budget also cuts the funding for gmd research and development by one third, making more robust testing impossible and potentially eliminating threat-representative missile shoot-downs. According to the budget, after a few years, there will be no more practice missiles available for operational tests.

Wallop also mentions that the budget does not provide funding for missile defense in Poland to protect Europe from a potential Iranian nuclear strike. “President Obama regrettably offered to scuttle the plans for the European missile defense site as a concession to Russia,” he says, “indicating that the U.S. is not serious about countering Iran’s nuclear and missile programs.”

This will not only boost Iran’s confidence, but also provide further impetus to Europe developing its own robust, united military to counter the Iranian threat. Wallop continues,

Iran has responded to the administration’s overtures and dismantling of our defense not with an outstretched hand, but with more missile tests. In early February 2009, the country put a satellite into orbit using the basic missile technology needed to propel a nuclear warhead into Europe on the back of a multi-stage rocket. In late May, Iran test-fired a medium-range missile capable of reaching Israel and U.S. bases in the Persian Gulf. …Also deeply troubling is the administration’s budget request for a new Air Force refueling tanker. The kc-x tanker program, plagued by delay and by the highly questionable awarding of the contract to the French conglomerate eads (which the gao overturned), is critical to keeping our war fighters fueled and in the air over critical theaters of battle. Yet the Obama administration requested only $430 million and has given no indication of when the tanker will be rebid or built. We should replace our aging and decrepit tanker fleet at a rate of a minimum of 36 aircraft per year, and do so in a way that protects U.S. national security and American jobs.Dismissing missile and nuclear tests as mere theater reflects genuine ignorance of world history or willful foreign-policy naiveté. A boxer’s right hook is just a gesture unless someone’s chin happens to be in its path. The best insurance that such a gesture doesn’t turn into an act of aggression is to keep a glove up—to fully fund the defensive systems that quiet our enemies’ threats and make peace possible.If the Obama administration is serious about avoiding future wars, it would wisely start paying greater heed to the signals of its defense budget cuts and the threatening responses of Iran and North Korea.

This lack of U.S. national will reflected in its diminishing emphasis on defense is destined to have far-reaching consequences. Already, nations around the world are acting differently as they become more and more comfortable challenging America. According to Bible prophecy, this trend will intensify until the U.S. becomes besieged. For more, read “America Has Won Its Last War.”