Can the US fight and win in Iraq and Korea?

The present dual crises in Iraq and Korea dramatically illustrate how the underinvestment in the U.S. military over the last ten years now threatens to undermine the United States’ ability to adequately deter and, if necessary, fight rogue states.

In a essay in todays USA Today, author Max Boot details how if push came to shove, the United States could probably defeat Iraq and North Korea in short order but it would be a damn near-run thing. More importantly, the U.S. would suffer a lot more casualties than we have come to expect.

These realities, Boot argues, have created the disconnect between the administrations get tough attitude toward Iraq and its bold dialogue approach to nuclear North Korea.

Boot correctly makes the case that the problem is simply lack of money, and the only way to correct Clinton era budgetary neglect is to boost the Pentagon budget by at least $100 billion a year, bringing defense spending up to 4.3% of GDP, only half the Cold War average.