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US Abandons 2-War Strategy: New York Times
The United States is abandoning its two-war strategy which requires its military be prepared to fight two major wars simultaneously, according to a classified document published by the New York Times Friday.
The Pentagon has outlined a new strategy which will order the armed forces to "win decisively" in a single major conflict, defend American territory against new threats and wage a number of actions elsewhere around the globe, the report said. The shift could mean more money for the proposed missile shield and for fighting terrorism.
The U.S. military has been required to fight two major wars simultaneously since 1993. While a change in military requirements had been expected in a strategic review under way at the Pentagon, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld told Congress on June 21 that no action had been taken on whether to scrap the two-war requirement. The classified document will shape the defense review mandated by Congress every four years.
The changes are laid out in a 29-page document known as the " terms of reference," which the Pentagon will use to guide specific policy and budget requests for personnel and weapons.
The document requires the U.S. military to carry out four broad missions: defend U.S. territory; prevent aggressors from taking hostile action by making them afraid of a response from American forces in Europe, the Middle East, southwest Asia, northeast Asia and along the East Asian rim; "win decisively" in one major conflict; and conduct "small-scale contingencies of limited duration in other areas of the world."
A final version of the document was approved by Rumsfeld, the armed service chiefs and the regional war-fighting commanders about two weeks ago.
Some senior administration officials hoped that the changes would provide significant savings through personnel cuts to free up money to modernize the armed forces and to build the missile defense system.
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