Friday, October 14, 2011

Defense Budget

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is saying he is against any more cuts to his ravenous agency.  I find it hard to believe that the 369,000 American soldiers overseas in places that include Japan, Germany, Britain, Greece and other surprising places cant be brought  home.  It is said each soldier overseas costs one million dollars. Read the list of overseas deployments here and marvel.  Of course we can not pull everyone of them back to the U.S., but a phased approach over the next few years makes sense.  Do we really need 53,000 troops in Germany?  What war is being fought there?

As budget cuts loom in the future would we New Mexicans feel more comfortable closing one of our military bases or research labs in order to save one in Qatar?


3 comments:

Abq Dude said...

Right on, Jim. I've never understood why we continue to pump billions in overseas bases and outdated military sites, nor why we can't demand the host countries pay for our presence if they want us there. Panetta's just another lackey bought and paid for by the military industrial complex.

Donald F. Schiff said...

Spot on, Jim. I expect any department secretary to defend his budget, but Mr. Panetta knows there is a lot of fat to trim within the defense budget. I think this is preemptive hot air.

Anonymous said...

The news today announced that 100 Special Ops personnel have been sent to the Sudan region of AFRICA for 'advisory' purposes. Isn't that how Viet Nam started - 'Advisory'????