“The Pentagon’s Worst Nightmare”
That’s the title of this article.
Yesterday’s signing of the debt ceiling deal raises the possibility of budget cuts to the Pentagon. You can only squeeze so much blood out of those whiny Social Security recipients and those lazy parasites (9.2% of the population!) who refuse to work.
Fewer tax dollars for the Pentagon’s multi-trillion-dollar budget? As they said at the Heritage Foundation, “It’s chaos!”
A spokesman for the Center for a New American Security said:
“This is the Pentagon’s worst nightmare.”
It’s gonna be scary all right. No more $800,000 toilet seats or $70,000 hammers? But we’ll still be able to invade any tinpot third world cesspool any time we want, for any reason.
Won’t We??!?!?!?
What will happen to American Exceptionalism??? We can never ever allow the sun to set on the American Empire. There are American military bases in dozens of countries all over the world. Those people NEED us.
If you’re scared shitless of a weakened America being invaded by hordes of brown savages, you’re not alone. Thomas Donnelly of the American Enterprise Institute feels your pain. He says cutting the defense budget is a terrible idea:
“…unless you can promise that there will be nothing but peace, love, and tie-dye for the next 12 years…Do you want to share the world with the Chinese or with nuclear-armed Iran? The only thing worse than Americans running the world is someone else running the world.”
Labels: American Enterprise Institute, American Exceptionalism, Center for a New American Security, Heritage Foundation, Pentagon budget cuts, The Pentagon’s worst nightmare, Thomas Donnelly
posted by Tom Harper @ 7:11 PM
17 Comments:
To me, cutting the safety nets for the poor, sick and elderly is a lot more important than keeping the military industrial complex humming along. But I could be wrong. ;-D
I also say Obama and his friends think the tea party will roll over because of the fear of defense dept cuts..but I say they won't..those fuckers don't know how to govern to save their collective ass.
What do we need a strong military for, if our own Government is preying upon us? F the Plutocracy.
"Do you want to share the world with the Chinese or with nuclear-armed Iran?"
What an ignorant piece of work. As if the U.S. has a choice in the matter.
This is the rant of a middle-aged or older, affluent white guy who has zero likelihood of going to fight a war and whose offspring, if any, aren't likely to either. I'd be willing to bet the dunce never spent a day in uniform in his life. But he's gung ho about sending other people's kids — many of them black, brown, red and what have you, and most of them non-affluent — off to war.
War with China today makes as much sense and represents, if anything, a greater threat to our national survival than war with the USSR would have in 1951. War with Iran would be almost as disastrous.
People like Donnelly are disgusting. They're not supporters of the military, just exploiters.
A strong military? We don't need one, but empire does, which is why any gnashing of molars over cuts to de-limbing machines is laughable.
S.W., your comment sounds like a good argument for reinstating the draft. 8-)
My thought is that if it was reinstated, it would serve a couple of purposes. One, quite a few of these b.s. chickenhawks would vote against and campaign against wars for fear their own kids and grandkids might get drafted; I think that would be guaranteed. Two, it would provide the military, over time, with more political balance.
What, I'm saying the military is mostly right-wing? Sure, but that's just an impression.
Snave..my thoughts exactly! Instituting the draft would have a good effect on getting everyone against the forever wars because now it's just the broke who enlist and they are then bossed around the the rightwing elitist's who command our military.
Snave, Dusty, a universal military draft has a number of advantages, as you indicate. But it's not all upside. The availability of an infinite supply of soldiers, actual and potential, could cause a crackpot-crusader type of president to be all the more willing to engage in military adventures and brinkmanship.
I not so sure I agree with Snave and Dusty regards the draft idea. Having the draft sure as hell didn't keep the D.C. armchair Hawks from waging 10 years of war against the Vietnamese.
The fact is, Americans love war, guns, bad ass weapons and most of all...killing. Thomas Donnelly is a prime example. Of course he thinks defense cut backs are a bad idea.
As I have said before, the pentagon can get rid of the no-bid, wasteful, Haliburton contracts and still have everything it wants in terms of ordinance and weapons.
Erik
I think reinstating the draft would have some advantages, but I also believe it would certainly not be without cost.
A seemingly endless supply of foot soldiers might give one of the crackpots the idea they could invade China or that they should try some other fool thing, should one of them get into office.
I think reinstating the draft would have some advantages, but I also believe it would certainly not be without cost.
"Do you want to share the world with the Chinese or with nuclear-armed Iran?"
For those who like to look into such things, I believe that is the fallacy known as a false dichotomy or a false dilemma?
The conservatives are rife with these, and the most well-known is the "either you're for us or you're against us".
For those who like to look into such things, I believe that is the fallacy known as a false dichotomy or a false dilemma?
The conservatives are rife with these, and the most well-known is the "either you're for us or you're against us". Perfectly said Snave.
As for the downside of a draft, it might help w/the unemployment numbers right? The asshats that love to keep us in the forever wars would have an unlimited supply of soldiers..until the American public got tired of seeing their children march off to be killed in Afghanistan or Libya or where ever The Big O sees fit to send us next.
No one can deny that he is a war hawk..he said so on the campaign trail.
As to the Vietnam war, when it became a nightly news item showing the carnage and death counts and the public got tired of their children coming home in boxes, they took to the streets and made their anti-war views known to their elected officials. The question that was asked when someone ran for elected office was: Are you for ending the war? if they answered in the negative..their chances of getting elected took a direct hit.
The draft will make more anti-war zealots than we can imagine at this point.. I believe that whole-heartidly. The current forever wars affect such a small percentage of the population..its downright disgusting.
Everyone should be affected by these fucking wars...Every american citizen.
People keep forgetting that the last draft had so many loopholes, the only ones who got drafted were poor whites, minorities and those too stupid to hire and lawyer/get a doctors note as well as those who actually wanted to go.
I like the idea of the great all equalizing draft that would put together Americans from all different walks of life together in the same situation, and that did happen in the last draft to an extent.
But if we are going to do it again, we need to leave out the loopholes.
Erik
Erik, exactly my point...even though I didn't present it as succinctly.
There will still be loopholes for the rich..get serious people..the corporatocracy rules this nation. But it's the folks on Main St that I count on getting pissed off..they won't have loopholes to keep their kids out of the draft.
Not being mean..just realistic.
People keep forgetting that the last draft had so many loopholes, the only ones who got drafted were poor whites, minorities and those too stupid to hire and lawyer/get a doctors note as well as those who actually wanted to go.
Not true. A hell of a lot of suburban kids were drafted and shipped off. And the burbs are where a core Rushpubliscum voter bloc dwells.
I am 100% in favor of a universal draft, and I have 3 sons of draft age. I figure their chances for not getting shot to pieces would be much better if there actually was a universal draft, since maybe then the dumbasses in the suburbs might wake up to the fact that their stupid car magnets don't do a damned thing for anyone.
Jolly Roger: "Not true. A hell of a lot of suburban kids were drafted and shipped off."
I've seen the FOI draft records, yes Suburban kids did go but if the Suburbs were treated the same as the rural areas and the inner city, a LOT more suburban kids should've gone!
We all watched the TV back then, watching that ball machine (like they do Lotto today) waiting for our draft numbers to spit out not knowing that one of the real criteria of selection was ZIP code
Erik
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