Closing American military bases
The New York Times
MONDAY, MAY 16, 2005
We have yet to meet the U.S. senator or representative who liked the
closing of a local military base. But lawmakers who care about getting the most
out of America's half-trillion-dollar defense budget ought to be lining up
behind the Pentagon's recommendation on Friday to close more than 30 major
domestic bases and scores of smaller installations.
By closing and consolidating facilities it no longer requires, the
Pentagon would free about $5 billion a year for the additional personnel and
equipment it needs very badly. Frankly, we wish the list of closed facilities
had been even longer, as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had once indicated
it would be. The Pentagon avoided the political pain of closing even more
domestic bases by choosing to cut back too drastically on its bases overseas,
particularly in Europe.
Many of those foreign bases benefit from host nation subsidies, so
shifting those troops home will mean less potential savings. It also undermines
military efficiency, since bases in places like Germany are closer to likely
combat zones than those in Oklahoma or Kansas.
Still, the Pentagon deserves credit anytime it musters the courage to
redirect money from areas that are politically popular but militarily
redundant. Many regions have been asked to bear their share of the pain,
including some solidly Republican states.
Several further steps are needed to make these cuts a reality, including
review by an independent commission, followed by a congressional up-or-down
vote on the final list later this year. And seeing through these base closures
is only the first part of the challenge. The economic pain and job losses will
be in vain unless the Pentagon puts the money saved to good use.
Just last week Rumsfeld buckled to Congressional pressure and backed off
from an earlier decision to end production of the disastrously dysfunctional
C-130J transport aircraft, a plane that costs $66.5 million a copy but cannot
airlift troops and equipment into combat areas, cannot be used in
search-and-rescue missions and does not operate well in bad weather.
The $2 billion that would have been saved over five years might have come
in handy in Iraq. The war against military pork must be fought on many fronts.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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