Mar 17th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
Gates, Obama to Take on Military-Industrial Complex
There have been a lot of smoke signals indicating that Robert Gates and Barack Obama are gearing up to take on the bloated defense weapons system sector, but there have also been a fair number of contrary signals. Now the signals are looking both clear and good:
Two defense officials who were not authorized to speak publicly said Gates will announce up to a half-dozen major weapons cancellations later this month. Candidates include a new Navy destroyer, the Air Force’s F-22 fighter jet, and Army ground-combat vehicles, the officials said. More cuts are planned for later this year after a review that could lead to reductions in programs such as aircraft carriers and nuclear arms, the officials said.
This is excellent news. Matt Duss observes:
This is welcome news. As I wrote yesterday, one of the key strategic misconceptions of the Bush administration was to focus on threats from strong state actors rather than non-state actors operating within weak and failed states. (Last fall, CAP’s Brian Katulis argued — as did I — that Gates’ demonstrated approach to 21st century national security challenges was a good reason to keep him in place in an Obama administration.)
Andrew Exum observes that this means the Gates Pentagon will now be fighting a three front war, adding “the bi-partisan coalition of lobbyists, congressmen, and industry leaders” to their existing problems in Iraq and Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Gordon Adams in a guest post at Democracy Arsenal takes on the specious economic argument for continuing with strategically blinkered weapons programs.
http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/03/gates_obama_to_take_on_military_industrial_complex.php This is going to be a huge fight with Democrats fighting the Obama Administration along with Republicans and Lobbyists.
Obama is also trying to pass a budget that will end
30 years of Reagan economic policy dominance .
If people on the Democratic side continue to try to undercut and weaken the Administration, neither of these battles will probably be won and we can bitch for another 30 years.
Now, back to your regularly scheduled Obama outrage. :) I'm sorry for the interruption.