The efforts to “preempt” Congressional calls to cut the size of the military budget may have succeeded in gaining a lot of media coverage, but a number of analysts are warning that at best it will delay the call.
“That pressure is going to be inevitable,” noted former US commander in Afghanistan David Barno, while others said such calls would certainly resurface in short order assuming no new wars erupt.
Which of course is a big assumption, as the administration is ratcheting up its role in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia while constantly threatening to attack Iran. It seems, then, that a new war, or at least something enough to justify keeping the record budget growing, is one of the safest bets in politics.
Despite announcing them as the “first significant cuts since 9/11,” the moves made by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates really only decreased the rate of growth of the military’s budget several years out, and assumes record breaking budgets annually through at least 2016.
The Republican House of Representatives is expected to examine at least some military budget cuts as part of its effort to cope with a massive budget deficit. The Pentagon insists the minuscule moves announced by Gates bring the record budget to the “bare minimum” it can accept.
Curious that Gates rang the alarm of China's military real, imagined and/or a USG/MIC, Mafia Industrial Complex created threat as this is by Gates, when the Pentagon mafia protection racket scheme which is pay me protection money or you, your family and your property will be destroyed, which is what Gates is really saying. Gates visits China, reports a massive increase in Chinese military capability JUST WHEN THE CONGRESS IS THREATENING TO REDUCE THE PENTAGON BUDGET INCREASES, not reduce the budget, just reduce the increases.