Final point Libya is on the edge of Europe and closer to most places we fly to on holiday. Can Reuters chappie guarantee the next crisis will be in a State as conveniently located
If we need carriers to get to such a far flung destination, is it really in our national interests? The country's broke, debt repayment exceeds our defence budget and will get worse before it gets better, can we really afford carriers, whether rusty old ones or shiny new ones? Yes, it would be nice to have them, but do we really need them?
We are no longer a world power, why do we have to be a world policeman? If it's not taking place in Europe & its environs then why do we need to be involved? We don't need a carrier for the Falklands, where exactly might we?
The US & the French have turned up off Libya with carriers & Harriers, but does that mean that we have to? That would be a playground mentality, not the basis for a sound foreign/ defence policy.
And can the USA even afford carriers? From a US commentator:
Washington tells us we have a $15 trillion national debt and the Congressional Budget Office says debt will hit $20 trillion by 2020. Staggering numbers, but if you add Social Security, Medicare, retirement pay congress awards itself, and all the other unfunded obligations, the American Enterprise Institute says the national debt is $112 trillion! At the rate we are spending, before we get to 2020 we will not be able to fund the budget and pay the interest on our debt to China or anyone else.
What to do? More taxes? Every person and every company in America does not make enough money to pay the interest on $112 trillion. Print more money? Long before the presses melt, no one will want dollars. Swiss francs will be back in style. The only way to avoid an Argentine-style crash is to stop spending on new programs and to cut spending on old programs. That means decreased Social Security, Medicare and unemployment benefits, decreased retirement benefits for government and union retirees, and decreases or elimination of every other so-called “entitlement.” When we make a serious start on those reductions and use the resulting surplus to pay down our debt, we will once again be a productive and creditworthy nation.
The excerpt came from a piece entitled 'Time to sink the carriers'.