By Matthew Rusling Jan 6, 2012, 13:19 GMT
Washington - US President Barack Obama on Thursday unveiled a strategy for a leaner military, with US troops now fully withdrawn from Iraq and an ongoing drawdown from Afghanistan.
US President Barack Obama (C), with US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta (L), the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin E. Dempsey (R), announces new stratigic goals for the US military during a press briefing at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia USA, 05 January 2012. EPA/SHAWN THEW
'As we look beyond the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - and the end of long-term, nation-building with large military footprints - we'll be able to ensure our security with smaller conventional ground forces,' Obama said at the Pentagon.
It was an unusual presidential appearance at the Defence Department headquarters as the Pentagon released a strategic review, setting policies for the US military amid pressure on the White House to reduce the massive US budget deficit.
'We'll continue to get rid of outdated Cold War-era systems, so that we can invest in the capabilities we need for the future, including intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; counterterrorism; countering weapons of mass destruction; and the ability to operate in environments where adversaries try to deny us access,' Obama said.
The White House and Pentagon agreed in August to cut around 450 billion dollars from the military's budget over the next 10 years, and now there is a debate over whether Congress should make an additional 500 billion dollars in cuts.
Many experts and media interpret the military's new emphasis on slimming down as a shift away from the longstanding strategy of maintaining a force capable of fighting two separate, major conflicts anywhere in the world simultaneously.
At the same briefing, Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said the United States must be able to 'confront and defeat' any aggressor and fight several conflicts at the same time, he said.
The emphasis will shift from heavy reliance on ground forces, and troop units will no longer need to undertake long-term foreign occupations, like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said.
The military will be leaner but more agile, flexible and technological, and will invest in cyberspace capabilities and unmanned aircraft, he said.
Critics in Washington called the Pentagon's strategic plan misguided.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon told the American Enterprise Institute on Thursday that Obama is 'clearly repeating the mistakes of the past by providing a force far smaller than is sufficient to meet the threats we face.'
'Quite simply, it puts us back on a pre-9/11 footing,' he said. 'It means that the next time we have to engage in a major ground operation, we won't have the forces we need, just as we didn't in Iraq and Afghanistan.'
Obama on Saturday signed a 662-billion-dollar defence spending measure for the current budget year.
The new US military strategy comes amid much Iranian sabre rattling in the Gulf and a leadership transition in North Korea, both just within the last three weeks.
Panetta said the US faces a number of threats such as the 'destabilizing behavior' of Iran and North Korea, whose nuclear programmes have alarmed much of the international community.
The US faces the 'rise of new powers across Asia' - clearly meaning China, which he did not name. Washington will shift its focus to emphasize 'power projection' and 'deterrence' in the Asia Pacific, as well as maintaining its capability and presence in the Middle East, Panetta said.
In the face of an increasingly assertive China, ongoing US policy has aimed to ensure the free flow of trade through international waters including the South China Sea.
The strategic review document said that the growth of Chinese military power 'must be accompanied by greater clarity of (Beijing's) strategic intentions,' in order not to cause friction in the region. The document said that the US and China share a mutual strategic interest in East Asian stability.
Despite the geopolitical shift, the US will maintain close cooperation with Europe to allow the type of multilateral operations that have been conducted in Libya and Afghanistan, he said.
In Brussels, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he expected the US to continue providing for European security, despite the announced cutbacks.
'I appreciate the United States' enduring commitment to European security, to preserving the strength and solidarity of our Alliance and to upholding our collective defence,' he said.
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