Let's Retire the Global Policeman

(photo credit CNN)

Reading Shakesville is usually a treat, Monday being no exception. Melissa McEwan points us to Andrew J. Bacevich and a link to CNN wherein we read:

[Bacevich] has become a leading voice among anti-war critics. He is a retired colonel in the U.S. Army, a former West Point instructor and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

He's also a Boston University international relations professor who offers a historical perspective with his criticism. He says Obama has been ensnared by the "Washington Rules," a set of assumptions that have guided presidents since Harry Truman.

The rules say that the U.S. should act as a global policeman. "Fixing Iraq or Afghanistan ends up taking precedence over fixing Cleveland or Detroit," Bacevich writes.

His solution: The U.S. should stop deploying a "global occupation force" and focus on nation-building at home.

"The job is too big," he says of the U.S. global military presence. "We don't have enough money. We don't have enough troops. There's a growing recognition that the amount of red ink we're spilling is unsustainable."

It's guns vs. butter all over again.  I guess it's always been guns vs. butter.  To date, guns have been winning.  High time that butter gets its due.