There is a small pictorial article buried deep in one of today's New York/Long Island area Sunday papers showing recently appointed Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Rear Admiral Walter E. Carter Jr. all spiffed up in their flight jackets with soft helmets and goggles on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise yesterday. The article states that Panetta told sailors aboard the Enterprise that the U.S. is committed to maintaining a fleet of 11 of the formidable ships despite budget pressures.
Excuse me? We will continue to fund and maintain 11 aircraft carrier strike groups? 11? For what purpose, and to what end? I seem to recall hearing something about the Cold War coming to an end in 1989.
Ah! Perhaps the thinking is we need to be ready sometime soon with all this firepower marshaled in the Arabian Sea to bomb Iran back into the middle ages. Perhaps the thinking is we need to be ready in the future with all this firepower marshaled in the central and western Pacific to thwart a newly dominate Chinese Navy from mounting a sneak attack across the Pacific against Pearl Harbor. Speaking in terms of China, why do we still feel the need to project our Naval power in the western Pacific, the South China Sea, and yes, even the Yellow Sea? What do we think our reaction would be to a Chinese fleet patrolling and conducting war games in the Gulf of Mexico?
I say a maximum of 8 or 9 aircraft carrier groups would still be more than enough to protect and defend the American Homeland, rather than being used to project U.S. power around the globe as the self-annointed Emperor of Planet Earth. Mr. President, Mr. Senate Majority Leader, Mr. House Speaker, enough is enough. End this folly now, and redirect your attentions and energies and our tax dollars to fixing the problems being faced daily here at home by the the citizens of the U.S.A.
