06.10.11

Complaining about the other pantywaists

Posted in Bombing Moe at 8:53 am by George Smith

Defense Secretary Bob Gates complains about NATO pantywaists:

In Libya, Gates said, “the mightiest military alliance in history is only 11 weeks into an operation against a poorly armed regime in a sparsely populated country, yet many allies are beginning to run short of munitions, requiring the U.S., once more, to make up the difference.???

He had me on the floor with that one. Bombing Moe is the “mightiest military alliance in history?” In his mind. WWII conveniently thrown in a black hole.

The thrust of it: European nations aren’t spending enough on their militaries. And they are reluctant warriors perhaps being tired of being hectored to fight in Afghanistan.

This will not be popular with Little Tommy Atkins or the friendlies on our northern border. Who have had to reorder smart bombs and missiles from our weapons shops.

“Europe’s patchwork of small countries leads to a jumble of small military forces that are not particularly effective if they actually need to go to war, critics say,” reads the piece.

Well, there’s also the fact that their democracies are substantially more representative than ours. And that their civilian populations and politicians and industries are not totally wedded to arms production and continually being on war footing.

Nope, can’t complain much about the Euro-pantywaists here. From this standpoint, it’s good they don’t follow the American way.

And for the sales pitch, trying to keep at least some air pumped into the balance of trade:

“Gates repeated the criticism on Friday, saying that the $300 billion that non-U.S. NATO members spend annually on defense ‘could buy a significant amount of usable military capability.’ Instead, the results are significantly less than the sum of the parts.???

Obey Uncle Sam! Don’t make him angry! Buy more F-16s, attack helicopters and smart bombs, pantywaists!

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