Faced with a Congress determined to do something about soaring budget deficits the Pentagon has kept up the offensive to ensure that the record military spending budget is never considered more than an afterthought in spending cut talks.
“We shrink from our global security responsibilities at our peril,” insisted Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who has been pushing a record 2011 budget, and is poised to start the push for an even larger 2012 budget.
Though some freshmen Congressmen have insisted that every department must be considered a target for cuts, which hasn’t set well with the Pentagon, who has promised “cuts” that never actually reduce the budget, and to Congressmen who are committed to the some pet war spending program or another.
Gates has been fairly regularly chastizing Congress for not approving whatever budget he demands, and officials say the lack of approval for the record 2011 budget, which leaves them at “only” the record 2010 budget, has put the military in “crisis.”
The expense of world empire is clearly growing precipitously, and is putting the military’s budget under renewed scrutiny. It seems, however, that this enormous cost has done nothing to the Pentagon’s sense of entitlement, and fights against even modest cuts are expected to be fought vigorously.
A Modest Proposal:
1. Remove the entire Pentagon command and control structure to a series of remote caves somewhere on the North American Continent– say, the Rockies. Make them dress in simple loose fitting garments and wear sandals.
2. Divest them of all means of communication except for a half-dozen or so pre-paid cell phones and an occasional laptop.
3. Make everyone below the rank of general a courier equipped with an old motorcycle.
4. Drop JDAMS on the caves every so often to keep them alert.
5. Provide our troops in the field the very best guides to improvised explosives and the necessary materials for fabricating them.
6. Dispense with all kit except for AK-47s and compact Gideon Bibles.
7. Publicly stone dishonest defense contractors on a regular basis.
8. Respond to the command structures request for more cell phones or bigger caves with a robust reminder they are doing the Lord's work and he will provide for their needs according to his schedule, not theirs.
9. And naturally, no alcohol at the officer's club.
10. Tell them they can return to Washington when they prove as effective as the enemy.
We need to do something about The Grand Duchy of Fenwick.
This could get really interesting. The pentagon might have to actually take a close look at their 170+ foreign installations and the justifications for keeping them – other than "empire" of course.
Can you say military coupe!
Is this Gates moron aware that we have no "global security responsibilities?" The military has a responsibility toward the American people, and that is to be responsible. But in an era of a security and offense bubble, it's party all the time.
It'd be wonderful if the military were in crisis, because, guess what, every American who doesn't benefit from the death and destruction racket is in crisis.
The only "tragic consequence" with an offense budget cut is that he and his fellow war mobsters will have to downgrade from a Rolls to a Bentley.
That's going from a BMW to a VW. They own Rolls and Bentley, respectively.
Funny about that. Remember them? They were the enemy of the now bankrupt British Empire.
why doesn't antiwar publish my comments?
I watched Raimondo and others on Freedom Watch last night. I enjoyed the woman that said we should cut the War Department back to it's size during the Clinton Administration. A good start.
Carrier Battle Groups aka targets don't seem to be of use in eliminating the only real menace to the sea lanes which are a bunch of Somali's in wooden fishing boats with AK47's. The pro-life Christian Air Force is dying to do God's work and bomb some women and babies with the new toys. Work progresses on the next gen submarines which at least won't be sunk by an Arab in a rubber boat.
Generals and Admirals are counting on their fat paychecks when they retire from the Pentagon and get a job with their favorite contractor lobbying their former underlings.
take our money away and the guns will turn on you
"our global security responsibilities"…
There it is folks. The Freudian slip. Other countries have militaries that have NATIONAL responsibilities. They just defend their own territory and country. BUT NOT AMERICA. In reality the U.S. military HAS NOTHING TO DO with "defending" America. It is all about empire and the M.I.C.