Defense Spending

While the Bush Administration's plan regarding a temporary freeze on defense spending is laudatory, the decision to follow this by a "modest growth" is, in my view an example of what Barbara Tuchman had in mind when she wrote "March of Folly." The book was undertaken by her to describe the unexplainable actions that civilizations have taken, counter to their own best interests. To me, rather than making the freeze a temporary stop on an ever upward spiral of defense spending, I submit that in view of our internal needs and the relaxation of tensions abroad, a substantial cut is in order.

WASHINGTON - The American economy grew at a sluggish rate in the first quarter, stirring more doubts about the strength of the recovery and the outlook for jobs in coming months. The economy expanded at a lackluster 2.2% annual rate in the first three months of the year, down from a 3% pace in the fourth quarter of last year, the Commerce Department said Friday. Most analysts were expecting the gross domestic product - the total value of goods and services produced in the U.S. - to increase at a 2.6% rate or more in the January-March period.

The article depicting wasteful weapon expenditures in the $2-trillion massive defense buildup shows us who were the true "welfare queens" during that decade. BOB BUTLER, Culver City

A few days ago, on a tranquil spring afternoon, I hugged my only son, holding back tears because he hates sappy stuff like that, and watched him go off to war. With luck, we'll be together again around Christmas. I had hoped that I might see him sooner, but the mid-tour leaves that he and his soldiers had been promised got canceled amid Pentagon budget cutbacks. My sorrow was tempered by great pride as we traded goodbyes. He is a born leader. During recess, he was always the kid who organized the games.

Re "Romer tapped to lead learning initiative," April 26 The defense spending for the United States is roughly equivalent to the combined spending of 200 other countries in the world. We have chosen to waste our treasure on guns rather than butter. I hope that ex-Los Angeles schools chief and former Colorado Gov. Roy Romer focuses on this fact when he begins his campaign to make education a top issue in the 2008 presidential campaign. Unless we drastically alter our national priorities, moving away from war and toward social needs, any such campaign is doomed to failure.

The Pentagon released a budget blueprint Thursday that cuts projected military spending by nearly half a trillion dollars, yet still calls for increasing the base defense budget in all but one of the next five years. The proposal meets both goals because spending on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq is dropping sharply, allowing the base budget - the annual cost of paying troops and buying planes, ships and tanks - to increase modestly, even while complying with last year's bipartisan deal in Congress to reduce the deficit.

In unveiling a new strategic review Thursday, President Obama warned that "we can't afford to repeat the mistakes that have been made in the past — after World War II, after Vietnam — when our military was left ill-prepared for the future. " "As commander in chief," he vowed, "I will not let that happen again. Not on my watch. " Actually, it is already happening again on his watch. Last summer, defense spending was slashed by $487 billion over 10 years. Then, right before Thanksgiving, a special committee of Congress failed to agree on $1.2 trillion in alternative cuts, which opened the way to another $500 billion or so in defense cuts.

President Obama this morning announced a new defense strategy that he says will make U.S. military forces “leaner” in the coming years while still maintaining their global superiority. In an unprecedented appearance before the press corps at the Pentagon, Obama unveiled the broad outlines of a plan that calls for a beefed-up military presence in the Asian-Pacific region and investment in NATO and other international partnerships to go along with U.S. troop withdrawals in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ending a weeks-long tangle with the White House, Congress approved a sweeping defense bill Thursday that includes controversial provisions on handling detainees accused of terrorism and tough new sanctions on Iran. The National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 passed the Senate on a 86-13 vote, a solid show of support that belied the considerable opposition and debate behind it. Several Democrats said they voted for the bill — which sets Pentagon policy, authorizes $662 billion in spending and gives service members a pay raise — despite their concerns about the detainee provisions.

Rick Perry called it "reprehensible" that the U.S. defense budget faces major cuts because of the failure of the congressional "super committee," slamming President Obama for his hands-off approach to the deficit-cutting panel. When the committee failed to produce more than a trillion dollars in deficit reduction, automatic cuts were triggered according to the terms of this summer's debt-ceiling accord, coming equally from domestic and defense spending. Obama has vowed to veto any effort to undo those cuts, as defense hawks on Capitol Hill are calling for. At a Republican presidential debate in Washington, the candidates largely agreed that the Pentagon should be spared from cuts needed elsewhere on the federal ledger.

Republicans usually enter a presidential campaign with a built-in advantage on at least one issue: national security. Historically, voters trust the GOP to be tougher than Democrats on defense and foreign policy. Not this time. President Obama has robbed the Republican Party of its usual foreign policy edge, thanks to his surprisingly enthusiastic prosecution of the war against terrorism. The death of Osama bin Laden in May didn't give Obama much of a bump in opinion polls overall; unluckily for the president, the economy is still the overriding issue in voters' minds.

The Republican presidential candidates were put in a difficult position tonight: debating Ronald Reagan. Debate moderator Charlie Rose introduced a video clip of the former president advocating a compromise plan that might raise taxes on those who had not paid their "fair share," in order to reduce the deficits. Rose asked the candidates how they would answer the most revered man in Republican politics. "I think we're certainly talking about different times," was Texas Gov. Rick Perry's initial response.

Jon Huntsman Jr., far behind in the race for the GOP presidential nomination, outlined his foreign policy positions on Monday, trying to steer a course that was slightly less hawkish than the party's leader, Mitt Romney, but still forceful enough to attract Republican support. The former U.S. ambassador to China, Huntsman was also critical of President Obama, his erstwhile boss, saying the president's foreign policy lacked leadership. “The world needs American leadership now more than ever.