-Caveat Lector- >From wsws.org ""US military spending has declined steadily since the end of the Cold War, with the exception of 1991, when there was a brief upswing to pay for the Persian Gulf war. (Most of the costs of this military operation were subsidized by Japan, Germany and other nations heavily dependent on oil imports from the region.)"" <<This is Bushie's watch>> ""Senator James Imhofe of Oklahoma, chairman of the Senate subcommittee on military preparedness and a close ally of the Christian Coalition, attacked Clinton's budget proposal, saying, "He's personally responsible for the defamation of our defense system and our hollow forces. The president is going to try to make it look like he's a pro-defense president. It's an outrage." "" <<This fellow's only been around since 1994 due to a special election. He needs to go back and read his history, spreadsheets, and analyze the policies set by Bushie for the redistirbution of $$$ following the "Cold War". Clinton, to his credit or discredit, has followed much of the path paved for him by his predecessor -- including Iraq. Now he's got the Soviets to be concerned about given the recent turn of events in the Persian Gulf. Then read the last paragraph or two of the article. This guy makes even less sense. It's finally hit home for the Puzzle Palace that our forces are 'hollow' due to the 'world's policeman' role the U.S. has taken -- BEGINNING with Desert Shield/Storm or Grenada or Haiti or Somalia, I forget which came first, but it was pre-1993.>> WSWS : News & Analysis : North America $110 billion more for Pentagon over six years Clinton to propose biggest military spending boost since Reagan By Martin McLaughlin 5 January, 1999 The Clinton administration will propose the biggest increase in Pentagon spending since 1984, at the height of the Reagan military buildup, in the budget it submits to Congress next month. Clinton announced the huge rise in military spending in his weekly radio speech January 2. The rise of $12 billion this year and $110 billion over six years comes out of discussions between the White House and the Joint Chiefs of Staff over the last four months. The budget will provide for a 4.4 percent across-the-board raise in military pay, the biggest since 1984 and well above the inflation rate, with additional raises targeted towards mid-level officers, noncommissioned officers and skilled technicians. The bulk of the increased spending will provide expensive new hardware for each of the three services: new F-22 fighter jets for the Air Force, new Comanche attack helicopters for the Army, new missile-firing warships for the Navy. The result will be the first sustained long-term increase in military spending since the accession of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985. US military spending has declined steadily since the end of the Cold War, with the exception of 1991, when there was a brief upswing to pay for the Persian Gulf war. (Most of the costs of this military operation were subsidized by Japan, Germany and other nations heavily dependent on oil imports from the region.) The scale of the US military budget is already staggering, especially since the Cold War arms race with the Soviet Union ended a decade ago, and the resources of the Pentagon dwarf those of potential rivals. The increase alone, $110 billion over six years, is larger than the combined total budgets of the next two largest military powers, Russia and China, which spend about $50 billion each. The total Pentagon budget will top $276 billion next year, and rise steadily to $296 billion annually by 2005, an amount which exceeds the total spending of all the other NATO countries, Russia, China and Japan combined. Yet even these proposed spending levels have been criticized by the military brass and denounced by congressional Republicans as inadequate. Senator James Imhofe of Oklahoma, chairman of the Senate subcommittee on military preparedness and a close ally of the Christian Coalition, attacked Clinton's budget proposal, saying, "He's personally responsible for the defamation of our defense system and our hollow forces. The president is going to try to make it look like he's a pro-defense president. It's an outrage." A major factor in the Pentagon buildup is the increasing turn by the US to unilateral military interventions, as in Iraq, and the deployment of US forces in regional trouble spots like Bosnia, Kosovo and Somalia. Some $2 billion out of the $12 billion in additional spending for the coming fiscal year is for the US forces in Bosnia. Coming on the eve of the Senate consideration of Clinton's impeachment and removal from office, the shift of policy on the military budget represents yet another olive branch to the president's congressional opponents. It follows the four-day bombing of Iraq and the White House embrace of proposals for partial privatization of Social Security, each step a concession to the far-right elements which are seeking to use the impeachment process to drive Clinton from office. The proposed hike in military spending stands in sharp contrast to the modesty of the administration's major domestic policy initiative, a tax break for the families of patients requiring long-term care, such as victims of Alzheimer's disease. This plan will cost $6.2 billion over five years, a small sum considering the social need, and a tiny fraction of the $110 billion in increases for the military. Moreover, under the rules of the 1997 budget agreement, the Pentagon increase will have to be financed from cuts in other areas of discretionary spending on domestic social programs. The Clinton military budget is not only a political concession to right-wing Republicans; it also represents a bowing to the demands of the military brass, which increasingly conducts itself as an independent political force in Washington. The Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Department of Defense initially proposed an increase of $148 billion over six years, which was whittled down by White House budget officials. Senator John Warner, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, is convening hearings January 5 on military readiness, with testimony from Gen. Henry Shelton, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the heads of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. Warner said he expected that the military leaders would hold to their original spending proposals, in effect inviting them to come out publicly in opposition to the budget submitted by the civilian commander-in-chief. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott has already proposed increases ranging from $20 billion to $25 billion each year for the next six years, an amount virtually identical to that initially proposed by the Joint Chiefs. Both the overall spending boost and the targeting of pay increases to middle-level officers and NCOs represent an effort to appease a milieu which is a hotbed of anti-Clinton sentiment. Only two months ago a series of public attacks on Clinton from mid-level officers appeared in Navy Times and other military publications, contrasting his treatment in the Lewinsky affair and the disciplinary measures against military officers charged with adultery or sexual harassment. As guest columnist Andrew Bacevich noted in Sunday's Washington Post, the longstanding principle of civilian control of the military has been eroded: "Formal deference conceals the fact that the president's real authority is exercised--and modified--through a complex and ambiguous process. The dirty little secret of American civil-military relations, by no means unique to this administration, is that the commander-in-chief does not command the military establishment; he cajoles it, negotiates with it, and, as necessary, appeases it." In appeasing the military officer corps, as in every other aspect of public policy, the Clinton administration is demonstrating its subservience to anti-democratic forces and its tendency, whenever placed under attack, to shift even further to the right. See Also: US military demands spending increase [1 October 1998] Top of page Readers: The WSWS invites your comments. Please send e-mail. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright 1998-99 World Socialist Web Site All rights reserved ~~~~~~~~~~~~ A<>E<>R The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
