Former Defense Secretary Weinberger Dead At 88.

Source: KTLA News

If someone could be named "the man" of the cold war military build-up, Caspar Weinberger would be that man.

He was the Secretary of Defense during most of President Ronald Reagan's two terms. He died Tuesday in Bangor, Maine, of complications resulting from a high fever and pneumonia. Weinberger was 88.

Caspar W. Weinberger, the anti-Soviet hawk who oversaw the nation's huge peacetime defense buildup as the secretary of Defense during most of President Ronald Reagan's two terms, died today. He was 88.

Weinberger had been hospitalized in Bangor, Maine for about a week with a high fever and pneumonia, his son Caspar Weinberger Jr. told the Associated Press. Jane Weinberger, his wife of 63 years, was with him at the time of his death.

"I was deeply disturbed to learn of the death of a great American and a dear friend," former Secretary of State Colin Powell told Associated Press. "Cap Weinberger was an indefatigable fighter for peace through strength. He served his nation in war and peace in so many ways."

As the nation's 15th defense secretary, Weinberger doggedly opposed reducing nuclear weapons, although he was eventually overruled when Reagan sought a partnership in arms control with Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev. Still, the Defense Department under Weinberger increased defense spending by 50%, adding 90 ships to the Navy and two divisions to the Army, as well as the B-1 bomber and other new weapons systems to the Air Force.

Weinberger was most famous for his "Weinberger Doctrine" that obviously, the Bush Administration has no intention of following.

The Weinberger Doctrine was first made public by U.S. Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger on November 28, 1984. In a speech entitled "The Uses of Military Power" delivered before the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., Weinberger presented the doctrine in response to an ongoing debate between the secretary of defense and the Pentagon on the one hand, and Secretary of State George P. Shultz, the State Department, and members of the National Security Council on the other, concerning the presence of American troops in Lebanon and their contemplated use in Central America (in the civil wars in Nicaragua and San Salvador).

The more remote impetus behind the promulgation of the Weinberger Doctrine was the U.S. military's failure to win the war in Vietnam. The Weinberger Doctrine reflects the collective lessons of the Vietnam War learned by the U.S. military with its resolution to avoid such quagmires in the future. All these lessons were distilled into the six points comprising the Weinberger Doctrine. They are as follows:

1. The United States should not commit forces to combat unless the vital national interests of the United States or its allies are involved.

2. U.S. troops should only be committed wholeheartedly and with the clear intention of winning. Otherwise, troops should not be committed.

3. U.S. combat troops should be committed only with clearly defined political and military objectives and with the capacity to accomplish those objectives.

4. The relationship between the objectives and the size and composition of the forces committed should be continually reassessed and adjusted if necessary.

5. U.S. troops should not be committed to battle without a "reasonable assurance" of the support of U.S. public opinion and Congress.

6. The commitment of U.S. troops should be considered only as a last resort.

Imagine if the current Warhawks in the Bush Administration used the above before going into Iraq or the probable imminent attack of Iran?

For the many things Caspar Weinberger got wrong as a Reaganite, this was one of the things he got very right.

That kind of firm leadership requires a great leader at the top of the food chain, something we are missing right now.

Tags: [Caspar Weinberger], [Weinberger dead at 88], [cold war], [military build-up], [Reagan era], [Weinberger Doctrine]