Commandant of Marines sees perpetual war in near future

National Defense Magazine:

President Obama last week said the United States is ready to move beyond the war on terror. The nation's military, meanwhile, is preparing for a future of continuous combat.

“I don’t see any indication that things are going to settle down or become peaceful,” said Gen. James F. Amos, commandant of the Marine Corps.

Speaking at The Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., May 29, Amos said he is convinced that the U.S. military during the next two decades will be just as busy as it has been during the past 12 years of war. When asked to forecast the Marine Corps’ future missions, Amos said, “I see much of what we’re going through right now. I don’t see any of it waning away. I don’t see major theater wars. I see thorny, difficult, challenging, human intensive — not necessarily technology intensive — conflicts.”

Amos cited the crisis in Syria, the activities of Lebanon’s Islamist group Hezbollah, developments in Iran, Iraq, Mali and North Korea as potentially requiring U.S. armed intervention over the coming years. None of these boiling pots will settle down, he said. Extremist groups continue to threaten the United States, Amos added. “We may think we are done with them. But they are not necessarily done with us.” The nation might be inclined to cut military spending, but “You can’t ignore the world I just described,” Amos said. “You can’t turn your back on it.”

Amos’ vision of the future echoes the views of other military leaders who believe the post-Afghanistan era will be one of perpetual war.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey,has said the military expects to be on a permanent war footing. Defense officials do not see the end of the Afghanistan war as the beginning of a peaceful era. They view the Arab Spring and Iran’s nuclear ambitions as ticking time bombs. Although the odds of a large-scale war are low, the “chance of violence for ideological and other purposes is exponentially greater,” according to Dempsey.

The military chiefs’ worldviews, while not diametrically opposed to the one Obama laid out May 23, illustrate the challenge the administration faces as it tries to reshape national security priorities and comply with congressionally mandated budget cuts.
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Gen. Amos has a more clear eyed view than many in Washington.  As Islamist take power in many Muslim countries they are likely to become state sponsors of terror unless their incompetence in ruling makes them an economic basket case as it has in Egypt.