I was reading an article in The Weekly Standard by Tom Donnelly and Vance Serchuk, and they outlined four key points to effectively waging the War on Terror going into the future, here are my opinion on those points:
1.) More Troops- We are putting a lot of stress on our armed forces right now, especially reservists and the National Guard. Also, the cost of training previously part-time soldiers for combat overseas is fairly exorbitant. It would likely be more cost effective to increase the troop number in the regular army.
Another problem with using the guard and the reserves is that we lose a crisis response force, which we will might possibly need with the looming confrontations with North Korea and Iran.
2.) Strategically Placed Bases- To face the modern threats of today, we will need to move our foreign bases away from the Cold War positions in Europe to locations in Asia and Africa, which are potential bases for terrorists.
3.) New Alliances- By this I don't mean France and Germany, but those countries that share our common interests and who can provide assistance to our efforts. Asian and Pacific Democracies, such as Japan and Australia, are perfect examples of these types of countries. We should also continue to work with the Eastern European countries, such as Poland, that have already given valuable assistance in Iraq.
4.) Money- Winning the type of war we are engaged in is going to require lots of money, which underlines the importance of showing fiscal restraint on domestic projects. The huge costs of the War on Terror also emphasize the need to pass tax-code and Social Security reform, which will be expensive in the short term but pay huge dividends in the long term. By lessening the influence and role of government, the economy will have the room necessary to prosper, which will bring in increased revenues to the Federal Treasury.
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