President Obama has finally found a segment of government spending he is willing to cut: national defense. The Pentagon will reportedly move away from current strategy, in which it can win two wars on the ground simultaneously, to a “win-spoil” plan in which it can win one while performing Libya-style operations elsewhere. As a consequence, whole brigades will reportedly cease to exist.
“When some army brigades start coming out of Afghanistan, they will basically disappear,” one official said.
Many of the key U.S. military partners in the NATO alliance are also facing tough defense budget cuts as a result of fiscal strains gripping the European Union.
The president may face criticism from defense hawks in Congress, many of them opposition Republicans, who question his commitment to U.S. military strength.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, are set to hold a news conference to flesh out the contents of the review after Obama’s remarks, which are also expected to stress the need to rein in spending at a time when U.S. budgets are tight.
It’s hard to see how budgets are “tight” when Congress hasn’t even passed a budget in years, and this president has added about $5 trillion to the national debt in three years, taking it from about $10 trillion to more than $15 trillion, almost entirely by ramping up domestic spending.
Cuts to the Pentagon’s spending are not in principle a bad thing; the federal belt needs tightening across the board. But the fact is, the nation’s budget crisis does not originate in DoD spending. Entitlement spending is the leading cause of our spending problem. Entitlement spending threatens to bankrupt us. And this president has no plan to rein that in at all. The president may be hoping to provoke yet another Beltway battle by going after Defense while leaving his domestic spending spree intact.
Meanwhile, Iran is watching. Lately they have challenged the US over the Straits of Hormuz, through which about one-sixth of the world’s oil supply flows each day.
Meanwhile, China is building a whole new Navy and is rapidly expanding its military and increasing its influence throughout Asia.
What’s even worse, Henry, is that China is doing it on our dime.
Thanks for reminding me. Ugh.
Ron Paul must be so conflicted right now.
He should be ecstatic over the pending destruction of our ability to project power, but he will be devastated at not being able to do it himself.
And yet we are told Ron Paul is completely unlike Obama because Ron Paul wants to audit the Fed in addition to destroying Wall Street and Obama just wants to destroy Wall Street.
Uh huh.
Ya beat me to it.
My first thought was, “well, the Ronulans will be pleased.”
DOWN WITH THE GREAT SATAN !
HalleluO !
PS Destroy the economy DONE
Destroy America’s might BEING DONE
Silence the opposition PLANS ARE BEING PREPARED
PPS I will call him Barak Chavez Obama from now on.
What’s not to like?
At minimum, it’s a four-way win:
- America is visibly and publicly weakened on the international stage
- America’s ability to defend itself and allies is seriously hampered
- Barack’s anti-military contingents are appeased
- Barack’s entitlement crowds (crucial to his re-election) keep collecting cash
I would personally keep the units to be lost in a cadre status, with the units being focused on tactical development in general and of those officers and mid-career NCOs assigned to them (as sort of a “shore tour”, perhaps as some sort of two-year combined war college with practicum). That way we keep the equipment and have units that can be “rehydrated” back to full strength in a little over a year (with new recruits) should the international situation so demand. For a parallel (since we seem to be about all-things Weimar these days), go take a look at what the German Army did in the 1920s.
Don’t worry America, candidate Rick Mitt Obama will give you you’re war with Iran. (And a war with China and Russia if they do as promised and intervene)
—-
The system is rigged from the top to the bottom, our constitution is meaningless, our unalienable rights are alienable, there are no checks and balances, our republic is dead….Have a nice day and enjoy the decline!