My Mum, who lived in LPL during the blitz, used to always shake her head when car factories were shut down. She used to say how they were the factories that built your tanks & planes etc.
Sometimes, being prepared for war, as with Pinky's quote, doesn't necissarily mean having 40,000 troops amassed near our borders. It can also include your contingency planning and preparedness should the unthinkable happen.
A standoff platform, such as the cruise missiles, could buy us just enough time to be better prepared. It may, just as easily not. One can only hope that the "visionaries" who concocted this plan have taken such contingencies into account.