Superpower?

Is the United States the sole superpower? What if any evidence do we have to support this contention? Supposedly the United States has the most well trained, well equipped military on the planet. Why then are American troops bogged down in a war nearly four years on in the backwater of Iraq? Why hasn’t the greatest military might on the face of the earth made short work of a rag tag Iraqi resistance? Why hasn’t the mighty American military quelled the uprising in Mesopotamia?

There is no question that the United States spends more on it’s military than any other country, that is indisputable. But what kind of value are we getting for our money?

During the early days of the occupation of Iraq a common complaint of soldiers and their families was that soldiers did not have the proper armor for their persons and their vehicles.

How is it possible that the greatest military force on planet earth could send troops into harms way without the proper armament? How do we as a people reconcile the discrepancy?

A very well known episode occurred in Kuwait when Army Spc. Thomas Wilson asked Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, “Why do we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to uparmor our vehicles?"

Rumsfeld’s response was, "As you know, you have to go to war with the Army you have, not the Army you want."

We are told that we have the most modern, sophisticated, well trained and without a doubt the most well funded Army in the world. We are told this over and over and over again. How is it that our troops were scavenging materials out of dumps to armor their vehicles? How can the United States have the best military on the planet when it’s soldiers and vehicles aren’t armored to the greatest degree? How?

Perhaps we’ve been lied to.

There is no question that the United States spends more money on the military than any other ten nations combined, but maybe all of that money isn’t getting to where it is supposed to. If soldiers are digging around in scrap heaps and families are purchasing body armor in the private sector then obviously something is amiss.

It’s no secret that Americans pay more for their military than any other country on the planet. Where is the money going if it isn’t getting to troops in the field?

The top ten defense contractors made 94.8 billion dollars in 2005. Over the last four years the CEO’s of these companies have made over half a billion dollars. Lockheed Martin earned 19.4 billion in 2005. Boeing made 18.5 billion. Northrop Grumman brought in 13.5 billion.

So yes the United States spends obscene amounts of money on “defense”. Yet for all of that money being spent troops are sent into battle ill equipped.

Military units are also being forced to pull multiple tours of combat duty in Iraq. The third infantry division based in Georgia will be embarking on their third tour of duty in Iraq next year.

“The multiple deployments and rapid turnaround are evidence that the service is stretched so thin it may have to request broader access to National Guard units to meet demands being made on it, Army officials said recently at an infantry conference at Fort Benning.”- Atlanta Journal Constitution

Let’s stop kidding ourselves and pretending that our military is invincible when there is no evidence to support that notion. The military is made up of regular Americans just like the rest of us. They have been overstretched and poorly equipped since the beginning of the invasion of Iraq. National Guard and reserve units have been used in place of regular army military units without reasonable explanation.

These reserves are supposed to be on call primarily for times of disaster or disturbance on the state level. The fact that Louisiana and Mississippi units were deployed to Iraq when Hurricane Katrina hit is thought to be of major significance in the lack of response to the New Orleans disaster.

“The deployment of thousands of National Guard troops from Mississippi and Louisiana in Iraq when Hurricane Katrina struck hindered those states' initial storm response, military and civilian officials said Friday.

Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, said that "arguably" a day at most of response time was lost due to the absence of the Mississippi National Guard's 155th Infantry Brigade and Louisiana's 256th Infantry Brigade, each with thousands of troops in Iraq.

"Had that brigade been at home and not in Iraq, their expertise and capabilities could have been brought to bear," said Blum.”-CNN