Our military is no longer respected

It looks like Bush has ruined the reputation of our military with possible far-ranging consequences. Because of this Iraq fiasco, our allies in Australia, Japan, and South Korea believe that we would lose a war with China. Japan in particular would like to raise its own army and kick our soldiers out because they believe our soldiers are "extremely incompetent."

Personally, I don't believe our military is incompetent, but I see how other countries would view our military that way given the way Bush has misused it.

So not only has Bush lost the war in Iraq, he has caused our allies in Asia to lose confidence in our military. Our allies don't trust us enough to rely on us and our enemies (China, North Korea) no longer fear us. Not good. It will take years and years to re-build the reputation of our military which Bush has destroyed in 6 short years.

http://www.insightmag.com/Media/Medi...eastasia_1.htm

[jthegreat]

Lose confidence in our administration, maybe... but not the military itself. They aren't that f'ing stupid.

[vulturesrow]

ITs a much more complex issue than "losing a war with China". What type of war are we talking about? I highly doubt we would ever invade China, although it is an outside possibility. The most likely scenario is defending Taiwan from an invasion across the Strait of Taiwan. The military is well prepared for this situation. China's primary advantage at this point is numbers, although they are aggressively ramping up their technology and training.

Im sure this is all part of some political game, although I cant think of the advantage to allied nations in making pronouncements like this.

[ QUOTE ]
The most likely scenario is defending Taiwan from an invasion across the Strait of Taiwan. The military is well prepared for this situation.

[/ QUOTE ]

Given events in Iraq I have a lot less confidence in this than I once did. Could we win such a conflict without using nukes?

[Gunny Highway]

[ QUOTE ]
Mr. Ishihara said U.S. ground forces, with the exception of the Marines, are "extremely incompetent" and would be unable to stem a Chinese conventional attack.

[/ QUOTE ]

212,000 U.S. Marines > 2.25 million Red Army regs. Nothing to worry about. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[vulturesrow]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The most likely scenario is defending Taiwan from an invasion across the Strait of Taiwan. The military is well prepared for this situation.

[/ QUOTE ]

Given events in Iraq I have a lot less confidence in this than I once did. Could we win such a conflict without using nukes?

[/ QUOTE ]

It is definitely a knotty scenario and I cant really go into specifics. But we dont need nukes to win and the scenario isnt really comparable to Iraq in any fashion.

[whiskeytown]

doesn't matter - their orders are to follow the C-I-C.

If the C-I-C drags them into a quagmire from which there's no escape but won't withdraw cause he's afraid of looking like he has no spine (like father like son) then the Military can't do a damn thing about it but get picked off....

Now, we could have a Military Coup - we get another bonehead like the current one that'll actually look appealing - but if this experience has taught me anything, it's that an incompetent C-I-C who tailors war intelligence to fit his goals is capable of killng a lot of good young men, even if they do have the finest military hardware on earth.

RB

[Arnfinn Madsen]

There is many countries with weak military where life is good. I don't understand this obsession of having a feared military. Even if your military would near-collapse, the Arabs are still going to sell you oil, the Chinese would still like to trade with you etc.

American foreign policy and military action suffers from lack of cultural understanding, the Iraq war is just another confirmation that this will be much more important than military strength in the 21th century (China has understood this, they try to build a positive image). The 20th century way of thinking, still dominating US' politics, is outdated.

[ QUOTE ]
...quagmire...

[/ QUOTE ]

Didn't I see this word on a poster some guy/lady was holding up at a rally somewhere? Think I saw it on CNN. Anybody else see it?

[img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[sam h]

This article is much more about Japan than it is about the US military. Nationalism is on the rise again there and, with the threat posed by China, there is a groundswell of support for the development of an independent Japanese military. That's what this is all about.