Yesterday, President Bush announced his intention to
increase the “overall size” of the Army, acknowledging that the current forces were “stressed.” The Washington Post reports he’s considering an increase of 50,000-70,000 troops.
On June 3, 2004, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) — campaigning for the presidency — proposed
expanding the Army by 40,000 troops. Bush quickly
slammed the proposal as unnecessary and counter-productive:
Bush’s campaign manager, Ken Mehlman, said Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld already has authorized 30,000 more troops through extended tours and new recruitment. He said the country would be “less safe” under Kerry’s approach.
In a news release, Kerry explained the problem with the Bush approach:
The Bush administration is relying on temporary solutions including “Stop Loss” orders, recalling the Individual Ready Reserve and extending tours to meet our commitments. These temporary measures have increased the burden on our troops and their families without addressing the underlying reality: we need more troops.
As recently as six months ago, President Bush was sticking to his guns. From a June 14, 2006, “
Statement of Administration Policy“:
more... This is what Kerry proposed:
Today, our military is overextended and our troops are overburdened. John Kerry and John Edwards have a plan to transform the world's most powerful military to better address the modern threats of terrorism and the spread of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, while ensuring that we have enough properly trained and equipped troops to meet our enduring strategic and regional missions. To accomplish this, they will (1) expand our active duty forces, (2) double America's Special Forces capability and increase other specialized personnel, (3) complete the process of transformation, (4) add homeland security as an additional National Guard mission, and (5) enact a Military Family Bill of Rights to relieve the burden on military families. And John Kerry will ensure that returning veterans receive the transitional support and employment protection that they deserve.
Expand America's Active Duty Forces As president, John Kerry will ensure that our military has sufficient troop strength to protect our national security without placing an undue burden on the men and women of our armed forces. He will:
-- Add 40,000 Troops to the Active Duty Army to Prevent and Prepare for Other Possible Conflicts (not to increase the overall number of soldiers in Iraq). Currently, the Bush administration is relying on temporary solutions including "Stop Loss" orders, recalling the Individual Ready Reserve and extending tours to meet our commitments. These temporary measures have increased the burden on our troops and their families without addressing the underlying reality: we need more troops.
Double America's Army Special Forces Capability and Increase Other Specialized Personnel John Kerry and John Edwards recognize the critical role of the Special Forces and other specialized personnel play in America's military. As president, John Kerry will:
-- Double the Army's Special Forces Capability by the End of his First Term. As part of the 40,000 new troops, John Kerry will double Army Special Forces capabilities in his first four years as president. His plan calls for adding 3,500 active duty and 1,400 reserve Army Special Forces personnel.
-- Increase Active-Duty and Reserve Civil Affairs Personnel. As president, John Kerry will increase by 1,200 the number of civil affairs personnel - 200 active-duty and 1,000 reserves. Today's missions are increasingly dependent on civil affairs skills that are needed in post-conflict situations.
Also posted at the
DNC website.
In a world without tradeoffs, a larger Army would certainly be useful. Life, however, is all about tradeoffs. A bigger Army is a more expensive one: "Army officials have estimated that for each addition of 10,000 soldiers to the force, it would cost about $1.2 billion." One can easily imagine worse things to spend $5 billion on than adding 40,000 troops to the Army, but one can also imagine better things.
The Kerry campaign's proposal was to pay for the troop increase by scaling back spending on national missile defense. That would be a good idea. Similarly, any additions in troops that can from scaling back or canceling weapons systems like the V-22 Osprey, the Virginia Class Submarine, the DD(X) Destroyer, the F-22 Raptor, or the size of the American nuclear arsenal would be a good idea. Reasonably independently of specific ideas about foreign policy it makes sense to shift military spending away from hardware and toward quantity and quality of personnel. Likewise along these lines, if we end our deployment in Iraq in 2007 rather than in 2009 or 2012 we'll save hundreds of billions of dollars that would be better spent on enhancing the Army's manpower.
Kerry today:
KERRY: Not without a fundamental political resolution. I think you could put 100,000 troops and you're going to up the casualties, up the stakes, increase the violence and not get a resolution.
The fundamental resolution that I've heard in every country I've been to -- I've been to Egypt -- I met with President Mubarak; I've been to Jordan -- met with King Abdullah yesterday; we're here in Syria today; going to Israel from here; I was in Lebanon yesterday -- everywhere people are saying, "You've got to have a comprehensive political reconciliation process." And we're here to explore whether that can be broader than it's been in the past and we think it can.
GREGORY: But how can you have that if you can't have basic security? Everybody talks about politics, but there's trash piled up on the streets, there's an inability on the part of the government to just stop the killing, to provide basic services.
KERRY: Well, let me tell you, I had a chance to get out of the Green Zone and I met with troops in various parts of the country who, incidentally, are extraordinary in doing a remarkable job. And they have a real point of view about that. I mean, they're going out on these patrols, they're doing a great job. But unless the Sunnis/Shia fundamental divide begins to be resolved -- and I think you're seeing steps taken to do that.
There is this new coalition that's being built. There's an effort to try to bring reconciliation together. The Arab League is going to be involved. King Abdullah is involved. Others are involved.
That is the key, not troops. More troops will not resolve the problem of Iraq. And you won't end the violence. What'll happen is you'll create a larger, more prominent target in the absence of the kind of political solution that's needed.
John Kerry from Damascus, Syria on Day to Day with Alex Chadwick on NPR. 
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