Strategy vs. Consistency

Some deployments are worth more than others. This can be reflected in US policy. Right?
[Officials] said the president's military advisers have made the case to him that if the U.S. pulls troops out of Afghanistan because of the coronavirus, by that standard the Pentagon would also have to withdraw from places like Italy, which has been hit particularly hard by the pandemic, officials said.
That's not how this works. We don't set blanket standards for where we will deploy troops; we deploy them where we think it is in our interests. If the additional risks of a major outbreak in Afghanistan outweigh the value of keeping a smaller number of troops there, you don't have to do it. If the advantages of maintaining air bases in Italy that can strike terrorist camps in Africa as well as providing air cover in Europe are bigger, you can maintain them even if the risk of an outbreak is worse. This is one of those places where consistency can be foolish.

4 comments:

ymarsakar said...

Trum feels we will need more troops in the US and Europe, for various operations.

You don't watch his conferences, Grim, so you would not have seen the numerous times he kept saying "Invisible Enemy" and "Invisible War". These terms are not replacements for Corona or a virus.

ymarsakar said...

The reason why Trum's military advisers, like what's his name SecDef, don't see why Trum is doing things like Space Force (fragmenting unified forces more) or troop redeployments. That is a rather complicated story.

Trum is being briefed and told certain things, that the normal military does not know, no matter what their ranks are.

This does not make him a puppet of the Deep State, although some of his behaviors, feelings, and decisions are due to what can be interpreted as such.

ymarsakar said...

The more Trum talks about this war that nobody seems to want to ask him about, the more he is consolidating US forces, under his open CINC authority. Although the military is pushing back, because they don't really know what is going on. It's OPSEC above the normal OPSEC.

War vs North Korea? Nope. War vs China? Nope. War vs Afghanistan? Nope. War vs Syria/Russia? Nope. War vs African primitives that NATO likes to bomb to hell? Nope. War vs Iran? Nope. Nuclear missiles being launched over Hawaii? Oh it's just a drill, no war here.

Trum's behavior makes no sense from an intel analysis and strategic point of view... unless you adopt the Ymar model and premises. This is a Deep State war, like a Deep Fake.

GraniteDad said...

If that’s what his advisers are telling him, he needs new advisers. I agree with you that a blanket policy makes no sense here.