OPINION:
Much has been said recently in the news media about the drastic cuts President Obama has proposed to our nation’s defense budget. But nary a word has been said about the lessons supposedly learned from the Japanese sneak attack on Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor.
At that time, our aging naval and aircraft forces were in many respects so weak and so neglected that they were vastly inferior to their Japanese counterparts. Fortunately, however, the continental United States was in those days beyond the range of enemy bombers, permitting an unimpeded buildup of our military forces. That luxury does not exist today.
Foreign countries such as China and Russia have weaponry capable of immediately attacking our factories and other installations needed for the production of military weapons. Hostilities in today’s age would be swift and conclusive, not allowing time for our country to rearm and defend against foreign aggression. Our country will win or lose a war based on the military forces that we have at the moment.
To make matters worse, there has been no diminishment in existing military threats to our national security to justify Mr. Obama’s proposed reduction in our military forces. His proposal, therefore, amounts to a unilateral disarmament in face of the threats that made our present military strength necessary in the first place.
Mr. Obama seems to be willing to run the risk of leading our country down a path of potential annihilation in the name of building more bicycle paths, windmills and solar panels. He has turned his back on the dangers that lurk behind his proposed cuts to our military budget. President Franklin D. Roosevelt said that Dec. 7, 1941, was a date that would live in infamy. How soon we forget.
HARRISON E. MCCANDLISH
Alexandria
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