By Marina Malenic
NEWPORT, R.I.–The United States must sustain its investment in military capabilities, even as operations in Iraq come to a close, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said last week.
“Every time we have come to the end of a conflict, somehow we have persuaded ourselves that the nature of mankind and the nature of the world has changed on an enduring basis, and so we have dismantled both our military and intelligence capabilities,” Gates told officers at the Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island.
The United States unilaterally disarmed following every major conflict in the 20th century. The military was dramatically down-sized at the conclusion of both world wars, and capabilities were slashed following operations in Korea and Vietnam.
“And we did it at the end of the Cold War,” he added, noting that the Army is 40 percent smaller today than it was just 15 years ago.
Gates warned against making the same mistake as the United States draws down in Iraq and reassesses its strategy in Afghanistan.
“My hope … is that we not forget the basic nature of humankind has not changed, and there will always be people out there who want to try and take our liberty away or the liberty of our friends and our partners,” he said.
A weapons portfolio and force size that takes into account the spectrum of threats, from irregular to conventional, must be maintained and adequately funded, he added.