The Obama-Gates Maneuver on Military Spending

[ProudDad]

Last week Barack Obama announced that he wants to cut $400 billion in military spending and said he would work Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and the Joint Chiefs on a “fundamental review” of U.S. “military missions, capabilities and our role in a changing world” before making a decision.

Spokesman Geoff Morrell responded by hinting that Gates was displeased with having to cut that much from his spending plan. Gates “has been clear that further significant defense cuts cannot be accomplished without future cuts in force structure and military capability,” said Morrell, who volunteered that the Secretary not been informed about the Obama decision until the day before.

But it is difficult to believe that open display of tension between Obama and Gates was not scripted. In the background of those moves is a larger political maneuver on which the two of them have been collaborating since last year in which they gave the Pentagon a huge increase in funding for the next decade and then started to take credit for small or nonexistent reductions from that increase.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/04/22-0



55 cents of each of your tax dollars goes to kill people for the Empire...

[ProudDad]

1. Please read this Article before un-reccing...

This is important!

This article was written by someone who KNOWS HIS STUFF and clearly describes the scam that's being perpetrated on us by both "Parties" in the name of "National Security"...

This is where the rubber meets the road.

It's why Johnny can't read...

Or have access to Health Care...

or look forward to decent employment for a living wage...

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. 55 cents of each of your tax dollars goes to kill people for the Empire..

needs to be a bumper sticker

[Arkana]

5. We don't get to decide where our tax dollars go

any more than the right wing does. They don't like paying for social programs, we don't like paying for tanks and missiles.

[leveymg]

3. The Obama-Gates Maneuver is basically about protecting the status quo. The article is accurate.

[Lasher]

4. Very good article.

I've been watching this charade. Gates keeps announcing defense budget cuts but defense spending keeps going up every year, including this one.

K&R

[Cali_Democrat]

6. K&R

Good article.

[Vattel]

7. Scripted or not, no one can accuse Obama of being

anti-militarism. I wish we had a President who was.

[former9thward]

8. I sometimes wonder if the reason that military spending continues to spiral out of control

is that the administration is afraid of the affect on unemployment. If wee reduced our military size those people would be going for jobs that don't exist. Also the spending goes for no end of military contractors that would become unemployed.