I'm far worse than a conservative. I'm a *gasp!* libertarian. I've been a peace loving hippie for a long time. If it were up to me, I'd pull back every American soldier stationed overseas and close every foreign military base. If the rest of the world wants to kill each other, let them. We'll maintain a strong defensive military that's used for... oh I don't know... defense?
I think your strategy is inferior to the one being used currently. A military that is completely stationed at home is limited to being a reactionary option. A military that is strategically positioned throughout the world ideally stop aggression from ever occurring (ie. Operation Desert Shield to protect Saudi Arabia). You wouldn't just save lives; you'd save money, too.
That said, the problems with having a big military are numerous. Aside from your politicians starting to itch with the urge to make use of it, the military tends to become a pretty formidable constituency of its own and can really muck up the civilian side of things. I think you folks definitely need to make cuts, but closing every overseas base seems ill advised.
I wonder if Obama's Nobel Peace Prize makes him laugh or cry or if he's even able to look at it.
Let's be clear here - as far as reasons to go to war go, an awful dictator using chemical weapons against his own populace is a pretty morally defensible one. So I imagine he can look at his Nobel Peace Prize in the, uh, eye just fine. It's the realist argument - that sending Americans to yet another Middle Eastern country with no hope of actually accomplishing anything - that should give him pause.