As we all know, Jim Webb was Secretary of the Navy under President Ronald Reagan. And as we also know, Webb resigned as Navy Secretary mainly because he could not abide any damage done to his beloved Navy. Today, the times and cirumstances are quite different (the Cold War is over, for starters), but Jim Webb is still hard at work, defending the Navy. This time, he's defending it from the damage being done by the Bush Administration's fiasco in Iraq. According to an article in today's Daily Press ("Webb: Iraq hurts yard"), Webb "called for a quick end to what he termed a 'strategic mousetrap' in Iraq to free up money for shipbuilding and other needs."
After touring Northrop Grumman Newport News, Webb added:
The biggest challenge for us quite frankly ... is to move ourselves from Iraq, so that we won't be burning up so much money on this ground environment in Iraq that is not giving us any return on our national security.We should not neglect our strategic posture around the world simply because we've been involved in what I call a strategic mousetrap in Iraq.
In other words, our presence in Iraq is not only hurting us in the struggle against terrorism and in other areas of U.S. foreign policy, it is also harming our Navy - as well as the shipyards, like the one in Newport News, that build ships and submarines for the Navy. Obviously, this is not a "liberal" argument against the Iraq War. Instead, it's the strongly held opinion of an American hero who has spent much of his adult life fighting for the strongest U.S. Navy possible, and who is now worried that the Bush Administration's disatrous misadventure in Iraq is harming it.
Webb is right in that militarily, the United States - surrounded by two huge oceans and with strong interests in securing sea lanes - is first and foremost a naval power. As long as this is the case, getting bogged down in endless land wars in Asia is not the way to strengthen our national security. Quite the contrary, and Webb understands that. Unfortunately, Bush and Cheney apparently do not.
You know, they might know what they are talking about being former service members, war veterans, and Naval Secretaries.