Allies Again?

Faced with the prospect of debilitating national debt that could have interest payments as high as 10% of GDP even Pentagon hawks admit the defense budget has to be cut. {defense spending} Defense Secretary Gates, a holdover from the Regime, gave a speech at the Eisenhower library announcing the need for drastic cuts in military spending.  One example he used to emphasize the need to cut military spending is more than 40 officers of flag rank are still stationed in Europe two decades after the end of the Cold War.[text]  Gates wants to save $10 to $15 billion from the current base budget of $547 billion.  The speech timing was appropriate as members of the the US Army's 18th Inf. Regiment marched in the traditional Moscow Red Square celebrations of victory in "The Great Patriotic War" known to the West as World War II.  The sixty-fifth anniversary was the first time ever western troops passed in review before the Tomb of Lenin.

The defense budget has more than doubled since 2001 to over $700 billion including war funding.  Obama's newly appointed National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility will consider ways to accomplish another task considered to be on the untouchable "third rail" in Washington.  The Congressional Research Service made a report on defense budget issues to the Commission that finds even if spending is not increased, the cost of everything military--from bullets to pensions--goes up.  Military pay and benefits rose 45% more than inflation over the past 10 years, while the cost of weapons systems grew $296 billion over estimates.  The United States possesses a battle fleet that is larger than the next 13 countries combined, 11 of which are allies and partners.  It has 20 times more advanced stealth fighter aircraft than China.  Clearly, this country needs to find the political will to mount a credible national defense without bankrupting itself in the process.  Eisenhower would have done it.