Delay in closing bases makes military sense

Given the numerous miscues by the Bush administration in the way it is conducting the democratization of Iraq, and given the challenges it faces in dismantling global terrorism -- the elusiveness of Osama bin Laden, the world's leading terrorist, is Exhibit One -- the White House would do well to put on hold its military base-closing plan.
Granted, we have a provincial reason for saying so. A delay would give the Mahoning Valley more time to strengthen the case for keeping the Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Vienna Township off the Defense Department's Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) 2005 list.
But there also is a national argument to be made for a delay. With President Bush's foreign policy founded on the idea of nation building, there must be an honest appraisal of what the United States will need militarily, to not only establish and secure a democratic government in Iraq, but to fight terrorism worldwide. Bush has said that terrorist cells, many tied to Al-Qaida, which was responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America's mainland, exist in at least 60 countries. More than 3,000 people were killed Sept. 11, 2001.
Since then, Bush has said repeatedly that the United States will not be safe until every terrorist is hunted down and captured or killed. That is a tall order, one requiring a huge commitment of money, manpower and equipment.
This reality is not lost on Capitol Hill.
House vote
Last week, the House Armed Services Committee voted to delay for two years the base closings plan, even as Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, was warning that the White House and Pentagon would strongly oppose the postponement.
But here is what Rep. Joel Hefley, R-Colo., chairman of the panel's subcommittee on readiness, had to say:
"There was a majority who felt when you are in the middle of war, like now, that this is not the time to go through a process that could lose you facilities that you could never get back."
A provision calling for the delay is now part of the defense bill that is expected to be voted on by the House of Representatives this week. The Senate also takes up its version of the annual defense bill this week. Differences in the two measures will be resolved in conference committee.
Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, a member of the armed services committee, called the delay a "minor victory," saying it would give the Valley time to attract more investment and improvements at the air station.
As the last round of base closings in 1995 showed, the Vienna Township installation, which is home to the 910th Airlift Wing of the Air Force, and Marine and Navy Reserve units, does have a strong case to make for its continued operation. The station employs nearly 2,400 reservists, civilians and contractors in full- or part-time positions. In 2002, there were almost 700 off-base indirect jobs created.
As for the economic impact on the Mahoning Valley, it is $90 million and climbing.
Nation building
But this just isn't about a region fighting to save an important cog in its economic wheel. As the deployment in Iraq and other parts of the world from the Youngstown base has shown, the installation is playing an important role in President Bush's nation-building effort.
While the Republican leadership in the Senate has not yet signaled whether it supports a two-year delay in closing military facilities, we urge Ohio's two senators, Mike DeWine and George V. Voinvoich, both Republicans, to take the lead in making the argument for a postponement.
There continues to be disagreement in Washington over how large a force the United States needs in Iraq to put down the revolt by insurgents -- the death and injury toll of American soldiers keeps rising daily -- and what is needed militarily to successfully fight global terrorism. In the midst of such a debate, why would the administration insist on closing bases? It doesn't make sense.