US to Close Walter Reed, Open Navy Base in Romania, Keep Subs

The US military definitely needs to reposition its troops, but the current base closing debate has nothing to do with getting the troops in Iraq out. Instead, the Base Closure and Realignment Commission’s work is about positioning military assets properly for the threats faced by the nation in the 21st century. Much can be read into the decision to close Walter Reed Army Hospital. More comes from the decision to set up a naval base in Romania. But in the end, the retention of the submarine base in New London proves that politics is still supreme.

Walter Reed is an old installation that has treated US presidents, senators and foreign dignitaries for whatever ailed them for years. Bethesda Naval Medical Center in Maryland does the same work, and it’s newer. Folding the Army operation into the Navy’s is called “jointness” by speakers of Pentagonese, or common sense by the rest of the world. Some jobs will be lost in Washington, DC, and some gained in Bethesda, Maryland. However, as Commission Chairman Anthony Principi said, “Kids coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan, all of them in harm's way, deserve to come back to 21st century medical care. "It needs to be modernized.”

Meanwhile, there is a Reuters report that Romania is drafting up an agreement with the US to put American ships in that former Warsaw Pact nation on the Black Sea. Romanian Defense Minister Teodor Atanasiu told the press, “The talks are underway ... The commitment for setting up these bases somewhere in the Black Sea area will be achieved through a political memorandum.” And this is part of the shift of forces out of “Old Europe” into “New Europe.” Or if one prefers, it moves them closer to the gunfire of 2010 rather than keeping them at the borders of 1980.

But returning to BRAC, the purpose behind the commission was to create a situation in which politicians wouldn’t interfere in the military’s decision-making about where troops need to be. Democracy’s great failing is that it tends to do what it popular rather than what is prudent. Closing bases hurts local economies, and that hurts re-election prospects of incumbents. However, BRAC hasn’t removed politics from the situation.

Consider the submarine base in New London, Connecticut. Subs are not a useful weapons platform for low-intensity warfare, the kind the global war on terrorism is. They are slower than surface ships, carry less fire power, and really aren’t good for defense of targets. They are sneaky, and that might prove useful if the enemy weren’t hiding in land-locked central Asia. There is no value to subs in this war, but Joe Lieberman (D-CT) is a right of center Democrat who might just be a swing-vote when the president needs him. And low and behold, he gets to say, “"Yahoo! Submarine Base New London lives.” Which ought to get him re-elected more easily. Meanwhile, the base is a waste.


© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
Produced using Fedora Linux.

Home