Shouldn't we be reducing major military weapon production

[ParisFrance]

We could save so many dollars! Then focus ourselves torwards funding intelligence and special ops like Kerry plans.

[noahmijo]

1. To my knowledge measures like the one you mention

are the kind Kerry has voted in favor of in the past.

Of course the repubs refer to it as "refusing to vote for military equipment like tanks, planes ect" without mentioning that Kerry supported higher standards of military technology (Network Centric Warfare anyone?)

[umass1993]

2. Your argument has a serious flaw...

It makes too much fucking sense.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

3. For instance the new nuclear weapons the Bush admin is developing

If there were ever anything that should not be done, that's it.

[lapfog_1]

4. There are a number that could be canceled.

Starting with the missile defense shield. Terrorists are not
going to fire ballistic missiles at us, and if a country did, we
still have MAD which has deterred such nonsense for 50+ years.
Plus it doesn't work.

We can scale down our nuclear deterrent to something that fits
the needs of facing down China or North Korea... something like
5 boomer subs and a few ICBMs are all that is really needed.

We should proceed with the JAST (Joint srike fighter) but we
don't have to rush it into production or orders hundreds of them.
OTOH, we should spend more on UAVs, both for intelligence and for
tactical capability. They are cheap and effective tools.
Smart weapons are good, but we definitely should rethink our
use of DU shells and ammo. And there is a whole long list of
new vehicles the army wants that we may not really need.

OTOH, we should increase the number of special forces, and equip
our folks with the latest body armor and personal weapons and
communications. One of the ongoing revolutions is that local
commanders are getting much better ground intel and the "fog of
war" is being lifted from the battlefield... and we need to
increase that.

Still, I think we could come up with $50 B/yr in savings AND put
40,000 more troops in the regular army as President Kerry has
called for.

[eridani]

5. Put the PEOPLE in the military first

Get rid of unnecessary weapons systems, especially missile defense. Track down the several trillion the Pentagon can't account for.

[PsychoDad]

6. We need more weapons...

To continue the crusade and the eternal war on Terra.

Besides, it funds the companies that provide us with our politicians.