Asleep at the wheel

(U.S. Army photo by Spc. Jennifer Spradlin,)

There may be a new Australian Defence Minister since the prime minister coup on Monday.

How will that new person do? I wouldn't expect much. But let us be hopeful.

Some say we should keep the current Defence Minister for the sake of stability.

I am not so sure. No one has been able to compose a list of his credible accomplishments.

I don't think that helping the PM mislead the national security council to rubber-stamp bombing in Syria is an accomplishment.

The U.S. bombing campaign of North Vietnam in December 1972 brought the enemy to the peace table.

So did Operation: ALLIED FORCE in 1999.

The threat in Syria isn't a nation-state. They don't care if buildings are destroyed, or other plinking.

Go ahead. That is not going to stop much. And it just makes the whole air campaign a big joke.

On the topic of jokes, a new Defence White Paper will be out soon. Or will it?

Defence recently did an impulse buy of 2 C-17s. The justification was Middle Eastern operations. Price about $1B.

Maybe, someday, we will have strong leaders that realize our very tiny military should only be training to be ready for war and other-than-war operations...

...in our own back yard.

170-plus flag-ranks or no.

.