U.S. military to be downsized?

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, the last holdover from the Bush administration, is looking to cut down on American military expenditures according to an article from Boston.com  http://tinyurl.com/cwvc9a).  The reasoning behind the cuts is because the U.S. can not afford to buy every weapon system that the war planners might want.  What is coming, according to the article, is cuts in existing and future projects that include everything from the new F-22 Raptor to destroyers.  An interesting thing about this is the fact that a Bush administration appointee is leading the way in an attempt to blunt conservative attacks on the plan.  Conservatives have often tried to portray liberals as weak on defense and having Gates lead the charge will help to deflect those charges.  The coming cuts also signal a change in U.S. military thinking away from the older theory that the U.S. needed to fight two wars simultaneously in different theaters of operation to one where we are focused more on local conflicts and insurgencies.  We will likely see cuts in large spending projects like destroyers, aircraft carriers, and manned fighter jets and more spending on things such as unmanned aerial vehicles and surveillance tools.  What has now become clear is that there is no military in the world today that can stand up to the power of the United States in an open fight.  However, everyone knows that and now we must plan for the type of conflict that we have seen in Iraq - a quick military victory followed by years of insurgency.  Opposing countries now have an excellent blueprint to prevail against the current American military, don’t engage in military battles but let the Americans occupy the cities and fight them there.  It worked for the Soviets in World War II in the battle of Stalingrad and it appears that it would work today against us.  In the end, some may complain about Gates and his attempt to downsize and change the U.S. military, but it is the right thing to do at this point.