Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Times
May 6, 2007
By Chris Dixon and Marc Santora
CHARLESTON, S.C., May 5 — Rudolph W. Giuliani called on Saturday for a large-scale increase in the overall troop strength of the Army and the creation of a special force to specifically handle post-combat operations.
In a speech before the graduating class at the Citadel, Mr. Giuliani, who has stressed an aggressive and muscular foreign policy in his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, said that he would like to see the Army grow to 582,000 troops from its current 512,000, an even larger increase than President Bush has advocated.
“I believe that America needs at least 10 new combat brigades above the additions that are already proposed by President Bush and are already in the budget,” he said.
While Mr. Giuliani did not say the troops were meant specifically to aid the effort in Iraq, the war has placed a heavy burden on the armed forces and, as the war stretches into its fifth year, the Army is increasingly stretched thin.
The two other leading candidates for the Republican nomination — Senator John McCain of Arizona and former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts — have also called for an increase in the size of the Army, as has Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination.
Mr. Giuliani did not directly condemn the handling of the war by President Bush, but his call for a new force to handle post-combat efforts implied that the approach in Iraq up until recently has been flawed.
Saturday’s commencement address was a preview of a much more detailed foreign policy speech that Mr. Giuliani will make in the near future, his aides said.
Mr. Giuliani called the 438 cadets, all of whom were still in high school when he was mayor of New York City and terrorists attacked the World Trade center in 2001, “the leaders of the 9/11 generation.”
As he has done in the past, he questioned the wisdom of Democratic leaders who want to pull out of Iraq, saying they “counsel defeat.”
“Never, ever wave the white flag of defeat in front of those who want to come here and kill you and take away your way of life,” he said. “Never.”
“The reality is that in this world today, there are terrorists, Islamic radical terrorists, who are planning as we sit here at this graduation, who are planning to come here and kill us,” he said.
To try to avoid the chaos that has ravaged Iraq, Mr. Giuliani called for a hybrid force whose role would be to provide stabilization and help rebuilding.
“We also have to think about the constructive role that America plays in combat zones when the fighting is over,” he said. “The reality is that America is sometimes faced with a difficult choice. After defeating the enemy as we did in Iraq, after a sudden victory in deposing Saddam Hussein, we have a choice.”
It was clear, he said, that America had an obligation to stay and work to rebuild countries where it has engaged in military conflict, as opposed to President Bush, who, in the 2000 election, railed against what he called “nation building.”
“It will be difficult,” he said, “and will require a new organization of our military and civilian components that are needed to do this — some kind of hybrid we’re going to have to create.”
As the cadets and 5,000 people gathered to hear the speech applauded, Mr. Giuliani emphasized that he would not be inclined to pull out of the conflicts in Iraq or Afghanistan any time soon.
“Final victory will take time,” he said. “The cold war took years, but we prevailed. And it will happen, and on that day your generation will take its place beside the greatest generations in our nation’s history.”
Thanking the cadets for their service, Mr. Giuliani evoked his own memories of Sept. 11, as well as Pearl Harbor and the period between the first and second World Wars, as examples of when the nation was caught unprepared for military challenges.
He vowed not to allow that to happen again, not to implement what he called “the peacetime dividend” when the size of the military is decreased because there is no war or overarching threat.
“We need a force that can both deter aggression and meet the many challenges that might come our way,” he said.
Chris Dixon reported from Charleston and Marc Santora from Los Angeles.
May 6, 2007
By Chris Dixon and Marc Santora
CHARLESTON, S.C., May 5 — Rudolph W. Giuliani called on Saturday for a large-scale increase in the overall troop strength of the Army and the creation of a special force to specifically handle post-combat operations.
In a speech before the graduating class at the Citadel, Mr. Giuliani, who has stressed an aggressive and muscular foreign policy in his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, said that he would like to see the Army grow to 582,000 troops from its current 512,000, an even larger increase than President Bush has advocated.
“I believe that America needs at least 10 new combat brigades above the additions that are already proposed by President Bush and are already in the budget,” he said.
While Mr. Giuliani did not say the troops were meant specifically to aid the effort in Iraq, the war has placed a heavy burden on the armed forces and, as the war stretches into its fifth year, the Army is increasingly stretched thin.
The two other leading candidates for the Republican nomination — Senator John McCain of Arizona and former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts — have also called for an increase in the size of the Army, as has Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination.
Mr. Giuliani did not directly condemn the handling of the war by President Bush, but his call for a new force to handle post-combat efforts implied that the approach in Iraq up until recently has been flawed.
Saturday’s commencement address was a preview of a much more detailed foreign policy speech that Mr. Giuliani will make in the near future, his aides said.
Mr. Giuliani called the 438 cadets, all of whom were still in high school when he was mayor of New York City and terrorists attacked the World Trade center in 2001, “the leaders of the 9/11 generation.”
As he has done in the past, he questioned the wisdom of Democratic leaders who want to pull out of Iraq, saying they “counsel defeat.”
“Never, ever wave the white flag of defeat in front of those who want to come here and kill you and take away your way of life,” he said. “Never.”
“The reality is that in this world today, there are terrorists, Islamic radical terrorists, who are planning as we sit here at this graduation, who are planning to come here and kill us,” he said.
To try to avoid the chaos that has ravaged Iraq, Mr. Giuliani called for a hybrid force whose role would be to provide stabilization and help rebuilding.
“We also have to think about the constructive role that America plays in combat zones when the fighting is over,” he said. “The reality is that America is sometimes faced with a difficult choice. After defeating the enemy as we did in Iraq, after a sudden victory in deposing Saddam Hussein, we have a choice.”
It was clear, he said, that America had an obligation to stay and work to rebuild countries where it has engaged in military conflict, as opposed to President Bush, who, in the 2000 election, railed against what he called “nation building.”
“It will be difficult,” he said, “and will require a new organization of our military and civilian components that are needed to do this — some kind of hybrid we’re going to have to create.”
As the cadets and 5,000 people gathered to hear the speech applauded, Mr. Giuliani emphasized that he would not be inclined to pull out of the conflicts in Iraq or Afghanistan any time soon.
“Final victory will take time,” he said. “The cold war took years, but we prevailed. And it will happen, and on that day your generation will take its place beside the greatest generations in our nation’s history.”
Thanking the cadets for their service, Mr. Giuliani evoked his own memories of Sept. 11, as well as Pearl Harbor and the period between the first and second World Wars, as examples of when the nation was caught unprepared for military challenges.
He vowed not to allow that to happen again, not to implement what he called “the peacetime dividend” when the size of the military is decreased because there is no war or overarching threat.
“We need a force that can both deter aggression and meet the many challenges that might come our way,” he said.
Chris Dixon reported from Charleston and Marc Santora from Los Angeles.