Proposed defense spending cuts will "invite aggression," Defense Secretary warns
By Delia PlessNovember 11th, 2011, 5:00 pmComments (19)
C-SPAN has set the bar pretty low, but it looks like the deficit Super Committee might actually be doing something interesting. Like, West Wing interesting. At least, that's what it looks like from this teaser. Visitors to Fox Business yesterday were greeted with the promise that, as their November 23rd deadline approaches, the deficit committee is quickly turning into the high-impact Thanksgiving blockbuster you've been waiting for.
"There will be high drama. There will be dueling press conferences. There will be last minute, all-nighter negotiations. There will be accusations of negotiations undertaken in bad faith. Angry, pious negotiators will theatrically storm out of closed-door meetings."
That sounds amazing. So what could they be debating that would make those angry, pious negotiators storm so theatrically? Euthanasia? Robot soldiers? Is somebody getting impeached? Actually it's military defense spending, so robot soldiers wasn't too far off. The Super Committee has to reduce military defense spending from eleventy-trillion-billion dollars to significantly less than that, and the deadline is almost here.
What should happen if the Super Committee does something crazy? Well, if Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has anything to say about it, that'll be the end of safety and decency for every American. Drastic spending cuts, he said, would turn our military into a whole host of worrisome metaphors:
"It's a ship without sailors. It's a brigade without bullets. It's an air wing without enough trained pilots. It's a paper tiger. An Army of barracks, buildings and bombs without enough trained soldiers able to accomplish the mission. It's a force that suffers low morale, poor readiness, and is unable to keep up with potential adversaries. In effect, it invites aggression," he said.
Now, it looks to me like someone needs a lesson in thriftiness. When the money gets tight, stop buying those $45 cases of Mr. Pibb. Don't cut spending on the bullets. Those are, like, the last to go.
Commentarium (19 Comments)
If Mr Panetta is that worried about the Supercommittee doing its job and making cuts in defense spending, why didn't he sound the alarm when the Supercommittee was being chartered? Or is he just another "cut every program but mine" bureaucrat?
Could be that he had only been SecDef for a month. In fairness, he's warned about this since September.
Don't threaten our empire or we'll try to scare you.
I think Panetta fears we will be unable to scare those we need to scare.
doesn't work as well as respect.
10000 years of human history says otherwise.
...and your response begs the question, respect for what? Values? Or respect for the other's resolve to protects its interests?
You all won't be so smug when the Chinese invade.
They already have. It's called the bond market. Oh, you were waiting for another D-Day? Think again. And thank all the politicians -- on both sides of the aisle -- who allowed them to do so through deregulation while you're at it.
Publius, do "interests" include dominating other countries to take their natural resources?
We haven't done that yet, so what is your point?
You can argue that our involvement in the middle east is directly tied to our need for oil, which is absolutely true -- and sadly, it is absolutely necessary for us to do so as without oil our entire society would collapse, quickly and painfully. Protecting our interests and attempting to keep the region as stabilized as it is possible for them to be is a extremely high priority for us. But we have never "taken" their natural resources, ever.
So take your "no war for oil" bumpersticker off of your car... and your bike since the tires are made from oil. And your refrigerator. And your tube of toothpaste (both the tube and paste). And your contact lenses. And your computer. And your CD collection. And your microwave. And your TV. And your shoes. And your toilet seat. And your deodorant. And your scotch tape. And your credit cards. And your sunglasses. And your hair dye. And your plastic bowls and dishes and tupperware containers. And your shampoo. And every PVC pipe in your home. And anything else you use that is made from plastic. And... well, you get the idea. Petroleum is used to manufacture a *huge* percentage of the products we use and rely on every day. Ensuring our access to that is vitally important. The problem is not as simple as you think it is.
Publius, do "values" only include your own?
The values to which I refer are the mutually held values from which respect can emerge. My opinions have zero to do with that. Do you believe that respect does not require mutual respect? Please tell us what you believe the "respect" referred to above is based upon.
Is no excuse to repeat the same mistakes over and over: We are meant to evolve.
Hard to do that when you're dealing with others who haven't evolved and have no interest in doing so. It's all fine, well and good to say "let's all play nice now" but if the other guy doesn't want to what are we supposed to do? Sit on high moral ground while they work to destroy us?
@Interests - It might. What are you referring to? Surely not oil as we clearly haven't "taken" Iraq's oil. If you disagree, please elaborate.
You could just stop shooting $700,000 missiles.
Times are changing for the beettr if I can get this online!
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Now you say something