President Obama held a high-profile press conference at the Pentagon briefing room today to dot the I’s and cross the T’s on his “new global military strategy,” which officials last night called a “realistic vision” that would cut tens of thousands of ground troops from the active combat roles.
The announcement came wrapped in the same language as every other “new” strategy for military spending announced during the Clinton, Bush and Obama Administrations, that of moving beyond “outdated Cold War-era systems” with increases in spending on pricey warplanes and battleships.
During the talk Obama focused repeatedly on “smaller conventional ground forces,” while trying to reassure that the changes wouldn’t impact America’s global military hegemony, giving all the indications that this is an actual cut.
Which, of course, it isn’t. The “new” vision is actually an increase in spending going forward, centering on dramatic increases in spending for warplanes, with an eye toward more Libya-style wars – President Obama even cited Libya in his speech.
The official spin remains that Libya was a runaway success with zero civilian casualties, a position that they have maintained in the face of evidence of significant numbers of civilian casualties and acting outraged at calls for investigations into those deaths. Libya, for its part, continues to drift inexorably toward another civil war, potentially even deadlier than the one the US insinuated itself into.
If Obama was serious about cutting defense spending, he would stop the war in Afghanistan and other places; i.e. bring our troops home.
The world is so pleased that Obama has given it the American plans for the the period ahead.
Yes, the Commander in Chief of the World…sorry, the United States has graciously let us in on the secrets as to how the U.S. will continue to dominate the world militarily.
It's a 'spend less' but 'get more' approach, one favored by all American Governments who apparently owe a trillion or two to countries like China.
What I want to know is: when are Obama's speeches about the world going to be shown across the world? I mean, when Obama speaks, the whole world should stop and each citizen of the world should hang on his every word, shouldn't they? So Obama wishes!
America is the most pretentious country in the world!
That is all wishful thinking, America is on the downrend, and there is not end at site. That is what i call the universal Law. Everything in the Universe has an end.
There is so much wrong with this but what stood out to me is this: He is saying he is going to put 100,000+ more bodies into the unemployment line at a time when the American economy is NOT hiring at any significant level. The military has long been the employer of last resort. I wonder what those who would rely upon that avenue out of the dead end hole they live in are going to do now? These are the ones who have been steadfast in waving the flag and supporting the government's actions, however misguided that was. They're not going to go away…
it seems to me, the better the US economy is, the smaller the wars
the worse the US economy gets, the larger the wars have become.
but the wars are always there, sadly. the US is not satisfied unless it is killing someone, somewhere
Remember the 1980's and 90's, the small wars – Grenada, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Panama, Iraq, Lebanon, Yugoslavia – we had respect and clout to bully weak nations and get allies on board as well.
In the 21st century with the economy in the toilet, it is endless war, endless talk of war with others, all of the time. The belligerence coming from the mouths of these glorified Pentagon bullhorns is shameful and embarrassing, and justly earns America the hatred of others who respect international law and strive for peaceful solutions to problems, who see war as only an ultimate last resort instead of the first go-to option. And look what cowards this has turned us into. How many freedoms will we be asked to give up? How much fear will we be able to take?
If war is going to be our #1 priority, we have to bring back a draft so that the people who pump and push for death to those whom we don't know and have never attacked us at all will have the same opportunity to risk their lives and loved ones as everyone else in America's Imperial ghettos and breadbasket communities.
It's only fair.
The draft will never be re-instated, just as the manufacturing jobs will not come back and for the same reasons: automation (drones and robots) and outsourcing. In the coming years drones and robotic devices will do most of the killing and there will be few American casualties for the American people to worry, or feel guilty, about. The media will play along and not mention the 'collateral damage' of our 'heroic ventures' abroad.
However, it´s rather a long-term strategy going at least 40 years back: To achieve a Disarming First Strike Capability. Chief Trident missile engineer Bob Aldridge -www.plrc.org-resigned and wrote 3 books on the subject, especially First Strike! The Pentagon´s Strategy For Nuclear War (also published in German, French and Danish). Bob Aldridge wrote on the missiles in Bulgaria, Romania and Poland: "Whether they are on ships or land, they are still a necessary component for an unanswerable first strike." Of course, this leads to Launch On Warning and danger of Accidental Nuclear War because of the bloody fools in the Pentagon.
Yeah,we are cutting back , but ignore the new naval race in the Pacific. The Chinese don’t need more than one rebuilt carrier, they have enough anti-ship missiles, courtesy of the Russians, that they could sink most of our ships in a real war. Until the F-35 program is halted, fat chance, it’s all a big lie.
ML3 makes sence its ok for cowards as long as its not them or there children dieing.But its no sweat of there back when poor people are being masicared around the world.Makes me want to puke the last thing the 1% want is peace and if we the people don't fight we will all die because of the week wimpy coward scumbag dirtball 1% wants to make more billions.
Zero civilian casualties in Libya? I mean even the most misguided warmonger couldn't claim that. Of course anyone who dies from our bombs is a terrorist so we CAN'T kill any civilians