Interesting article about military & defense spending -

[Stephanie]

http://www.thebulletin.org/issues/1992/ ... .romm.html

It's pretty long, but worth the time!

[streetsoldier]

Well, I finally broke down and read it.

Seeing that it is dated pre-Clinton era, it is all the more disturbing that such flights of fancy were already in the works, and nothing was done to reestablish a strong military, much less a cogent Homeland Defense force, prior to 2001.

Now, of course, we are suffering from the "ivory-tower" pronouncements delivered post-Desert Storm as an "ideal" global disarmament push, and I am absolutely appalled.

Unilateral disarmament is a pipe-dream at best; it requires men of "good faith" EVERYWHERE to see it come to fruition, and I don't see anyone of that caliber anywhere in this battered world today that would fit that assessment. And all it takes is ONE power-hungry dictator to mess up the works...and there are so many out there.

[Stephanie]

Mu whole point with this article was to show that cutbacks were already discussed and implemented before the Clinton era by the same people - Cheney & Powell - that are looking to almost redeem themsleves now. Powell even stated that he "didn't think another Iraq would happen". Hmmm - but how could anyone really know for sure in all honesty? Plus, another thing that disturbed me was that the Intelligence budget has out grown the military defense budget, but what have we really gained?

I agree with you Streetsoldier :o that it is totally naive and idealistic to think that unilateral disarmament could happen. There will always be nuts out there and countries do have the right to protect themselves and should. But the days of massive build up of arms is and should be a thing of the past.

It's quite easy to blame the past Administration for our current problems, especially if it's not the party you're affiliated with, but a majority of the problems have resulted from years of decisions made by Republicans and Democrats in both the White House and Congress.

[Dwayne]

Being defensive is not bad. It is the instinct of a person the protect himself from any harm. Specially during difficult times, we need to fight for us to live.