WASHINGTON, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- Over-extended forces and soaring federal budget deficits are leading military analysts to warn of the dangers of stretching the U.S. armed forces too far.
The Washington policy debate on the iossue intesnified this week with a National Security Advisory Group report released Wednesday. It discussed the strain under which U.S. military ground forces have been placed by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The report, titled, "The U.S. Military Under Strain and Risk," led by William Perry, secretary of defense during the Clinton administration, cites critical shortfalls and a threatened viability of a volunteer military leading to U.S. military decline.
"While the U.S. military has performed superbly in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere, our ground forces are under enormous strain," says the report, "This strain, if not soon relieved, will have highly corrosive and potentially long-term effects on the force."
Another report ordered by the Department of Defense says that the operations tempo is stretching the forces in Afghanistan and Iraq to the extent that there is real fear that the U.S. military will not be able to outlast the insurgency if it continues at this pace.
"The force is not broken," responded Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in a news conference held Wednesday at the Department of Defense. "They (the world) saw what the United States military did in Iraq, and the message from that is not that this armed force is broken, but that this armed force is enormously capable," he said, while also citing a need for review in a line of natural progress.
"The Bush administration has imbued a lot of power in the military as a major foreign policy tool and has neglected a lot of other tools," said Caroline Wadhams, a Senior Policy Analyst for National Security at the Center for American Progress, a Washington think tank led by John Podesta, President Clinton's former chief of staff.
CAP released its Quadrennial Defense Review report Tuesday, in which it expressed a need for reallocation of the military budget through suggestions as to how best to respond to threats faced by the United States with proper allocation of limited financial resources. It does not advocate a bigger budget.
At present huge government resources are not even matching the number of different tasks that the military is being called upon to perform, said Wadhams. Just by eliminating unnecessary weapons systems, according to the CAP report, the government could save $201 billion over the next five years.
Critics and commentators unanimously point out that the most damage has been inflicted on the ground forces, namely Army units in Iraq. Secondary indicators on the forces have been reflected through increased rates of divorce, domestic violence and abuse inflicted in soldiers personal lives.
Army recruiting is also undergoing crisis as it bottoms to an all-time low.
Although signs engender heavy concern that a stretched and fatigued military could encourage other world powers to take advantage of the situation, analysts in Washington believe the problem can be solved if no delay is taken in kicking off the process.
"There is no question that even under strain the American military remains the best-equipped in the world," said Michele Flournoy, senior adviser on the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Flournoy said that defense spending is now flattening out and is not going to decline precipitously, but she also believes that the military is not in decline because of not enough spending.
"The government must restore the health of the force," she said, "rethink how we're resourcing the National Guard and Reserves, grow the size of the Army -- accounting for likely future demand, balance the mix of capabilities within the Army and support recruiting and retention."
"There's a clear awareness that our military must be ready for unforeseen eventualities, while incorporating lessons learned from previous and current conflicts," Rumsfeld said in his Wednesday news conference.
It seems that the U.S. military will continue to be utilized at the same rate as it is now, for peacekeeping operations and stabilization activities at home and abroad, in which case it will not be sustainable, said Wadhams. "The military is a crucial element, but I hope it will not be emphasized above all else," she added.
The awaited Department of Defense Quadrennial Defense Review, to be released in February, calls for increased Special Forces and psychological operations capabilities. Since 2001, Special Forces have been increased by 81 percent, mostly through the $5.5 billion in supplemental appropriations for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
"The U.S. military is going to come through this, it is the highest qualified military in the world, we just have to do something to relieve the strain," said Flournoy.
