Gates Aims to Preempt Calls for Pentagon Budget Cuts

Announces Minor Cuts to Weapons Projects

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, keen to end Congressional talk of cutting the military’s ever-growing budget, today announced a series of relatively minor weapons programs were being ended.

Amongst the weapons cut was the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, which was aimed at modernizing Normandy-style beach landings by US troops, who have in recent years been fighting wars largely in mountains and deserts.

The cuts sparked lamentations of woe from weapons contractors, but seem to do little about the overall military budget problems. Rather, they aim at slightly slowing the overall growth of military spending enough, or at least so they hope, that Congress will stop considering it a priority.

Just yesterday House Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor (R – VA) said that Congress would be looking into cutting military spending. He downplayed the notion that this might effect the ongoing (and upcoming) US wars, but it seems clear that the cuts will go deeper than a few amphibious landing vehicles.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.