Obama Panders for Votes

[therealUT]

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama on Thursday proposed a historic shift in the U.S. military's size and ambitions, scaling back its ability to wage the type of war and occupation that just concluded in Iraq as the administration seeks to cut defense spending over the next decade.

Under the proposal, the Army would face a 14% reduction in troops—leaving it with too few to conduct two grueling ground wars at once, long a strategic imperative of the Defense Department. The plan also indicates reductions in the nation's nuclear arsenal and a delay in the Pentagon's most expensive weapons, such as the F-35 stealth jet made by Lockheed Martin Corp.
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Defense officials said the Army, currently at 570,000, likely will shrink to about 490,000.

Obama Charts Path for Reshaped Military - WSJ.com

These cuts are absolutely worthless and only serve to place our military back at the level it was prior to 2006. Cut to 300,000 or just admit that you are not actually serious about reducing the size of our military.

 

[lumberjack4]

I thought we had a military presence of ~1.5 million.

 

[WesternKyVol]

that's a 15% decrease. Seems substantial

 

[KiffinKiller]

pandering = breathing for those idiots.

 

[therealUT]

that's a 15% decrease. Seems substantial

Returning to pre-surge levels is hardly 'cutting the military'. We can defend this country with 300,000 active duty Soldiers.

 

[RespectTradition]

If we would trade in our military budget for a defense budget, then we would save a lot of money, piss off a lot fewer people, and save a lot of lives.

The problem is Obama wants to make cuts but he will want to do as much military adventurism as he, and others, have been doing.

 

[therealUT]

I thought we had a military presence of ~1.5 million.

Military, yes. Army, no.

 

[therealUT]

We had an Army of a little over 250,000 in 1940. With the technological advances and the superior precision firepower of our military, there is no reason we should have a defense force of over 300,000.