Paratroopers conduct airborne operations from a Colorado Army National Guard CH-47D Chinook helicopter assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 135th Aviation Regiment, into the snow-covered terrain of Fort Carson, Colo., Dec. 10, 2008. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Liesl Marelli, Colorado National GuardFrom Washington Times:
The hollow defense budgets, peace dividends and the procurement holiday that marked the Clinton administration's defense policy appear to be making a comeback.
The message hidden between the lines of the 2010 Defense Department budget released last week is that defense spending will decline in the coming years and that the military will be forced to do more with less. We've been down this road before; we cannot repeat the same mistakes.
Read more ....
My Commentary: Philosophically, President Obama and his allies have no love for the military. While their intention will always be to limit the growth of the military .... realities on the ground can (and probably will) easily interrupt these plans.
Iran, North Korea, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the implosion of many failed states .... cutbacks in defense will be very hard to implement in such a real and dangerous environment. The "peace dividend" does not make sense when there is so much instability in the world.
But will the U.S. Defense Budget still be cut? They will try, but Congress and their defense supporters are a very powerful group .... and it is they who will decide what any defense procurement will be.