Electing a head of state and/or government always is very serious business. Based on the issues US voters say are most important to them, here are a few questions the Presidential candidates should answer but forwhatever reason prefer to avoid.
(1) Terrorism and Iraq: The problem of a lack of US military personnel reveals itself more each day and will make later deployments to fight terrorists in other places more difficult. The current distribution of US and Allied military personnel against the population of Iraq is one uniformed military person for approximately every 175 Iraqis. The current distribution in Afghanistan is one uniformed military person for approximately every 900 Afghanis.
To George W. Bush: (a) What will be the US role in Iraq after the January elections there - provided those elections occur on schedule? Will you adjust the Iraq/Afganistan deployment ratios when Iraq officially has an elected government? (b) How will you solve the personnel and equipment shortages? (c) Since North Korea is an "Axis of Evil" member, rejects its IAEA duties, and boasts of its nuclear program, why does your proposed military reorganization withdraw from the Korean Peninsula when those forces may need to return there to counter North Korean activities and uphold our obligations to South Korea? What is the future of the containment policy the US applies to Iran in view of that "Axis of Evil" and its nuclear programs progress? (d) How do you propose to improve relations with NATO and OECD allies? Why do you not give more credit publicly to the successful efforts by various EU members other than Britain to capture and prosecute leading terrorists and freeze their assets?
To John Kerry: (a) You promise to increase US military enlistment and to expand the Special Forces by at least 40,000 members. How and where and with what incentives do you expect to attract these new recruits? Will these new Special Forces members be drawn from other existing military units or will they be an entirely new intake? If they are a new intake, what consequences will this expansion have on the military pay and benefits system? (b) What will be the US role in Iraq after the January elections there - provided that those elections occur as scheduled? Will you adjust the Iraq/Afghanistan deployment ratios then?
