Editors' Pick|Mar 4, 2021,10:49am EST|2,291 views
Is The Pentagon Preparing To Fight The Wrong War?
Michael Krepon
Aerospace & Defense
I'm the Co-founder of the Stimson Center, a Washington think tank.
U.S. military planners and troops are overburdened. The Biden administration has declared that it will not permit Iran to acquire nuclear weapons as Tehran moves closer to this threshold. North Korea, like Iran, wants relief from sanctions and gets Washington’s attention by poking and prodding. U.S. forces remain in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq where they need backup. U.S. ties with Russia are badly frayed. China’s military capabilities are growing. Potential crises lie ahead in the South China Sea and across the Taiwan Strait. Dangerous military practices are on the rise.
As large as the Pentagon’s budget is, priorities still matter. All of these contingencies have one thing in common: U.S. forces need useful and usable military capabilities when placed in harm’s way. Nuclear weapons are not useful on battlefields; they obliterate the best laid plans. This is why President Biden will recoil from pressing the proverbial nuclear button. He has a well-grounded fear of uncontrolled escalation. Other leaders share this concern, which helps explain why nuclear weapons have not been used in warfare for seven decades.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelkrepon/2021/03/04/is-the-pentagon-preparing-to-fight-the-wrong-war/?sh=38029a5813e5
