What "missions" do we have in Europe? With Russian invasion fears being, at least barring a coup, a thing of the past, the Balkans? That's Europe's problem and should have been from the start. You want peacekeeping? Fine, EU, keep the peace. But *we* don't need to be there at this particular point in time.
The Pacific and Asia, I think, are legitimate arguments, with China and Korea both doing some sword-rattling.
The commanders themselves may be exhibiting bad hand-wringing cover-their-asses judgement about Iraq. Last time, we had a massive troop buildup, but it turned out the oh-so-powerful Iraqi army was a bunch of over-hyped, under-equipped, downright cowardly incapable pansies. And I seem to remember hearing something about how Afghanistan was going to cost rivers of American blood. Well, gee, we've had a couple of choppers taken down by the enemy, but haven't we had more losses due to friendly fire than to the AlQuada?