Ole Europe Syndrome?

Fire of Liberty

I have to say that this story in the Washington Times that our various NATO allies have had significant drops in the funding and force structure of the military is very troubling. Take a look:

A comparison of force structures in 2001 and 2005 showed countries such as Britain, Canada, France, Italy, Poland, Spain and Germany cut their active-duty forces, according to statistics compiled by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies. At the same time, the United States increased its ranks from 1.37 million to 1.42 million.

More telling is the share of each countries' gross domestic product (GDP) that is devoted to defense expenditures. The U.S. share has gone from 3 percent to 3.7 percent since September 11, 2001, while other NATO nations collectively have dipped from 2.02 percent to 1.8 percent, according to the Pentagon. Twelve years ago, NATO, excluding the United States, devoted 2.5 percent of GDP to defense.

It's a little troubling to see loyal allies like the Brits cutting their military budgets and heading towards an "Old Europe" posture during these violent times especially due to the fact that they're side by side with us in Afghanistan and Iraq. Hopefully their new budget will show a change or Rumsfeld's talks will get them motivated. Though I'm not sure about the Brits, I'm confident that our allies in the nations of Poland, Canada, and Germany, who have newly elected center-right governments who have promised greater defense spending, will more than likely increase their defense spending and improve their numbers. We can't deal with the problems like Iran and other threats to our civilization if our allies don't bulk up at their own end. Let's hope the folks with such sagging numbers will find some way to get these numbers back up before things get too out of hand.