Archive for the ‘Antiwar’ Category

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Tennant:”The Military-industrial Complex’s War on Defense Cuts”

Monday, September 12th, 2011

The military-industrial complex is pulling out all the stops to ensure that not one dime of its vast federal largess is taken away even as the nation faces nearly $15 trillion in debt. Defense contractors, Representatives and Senators, and current and former Defense Secretaries are working together to thwart actual and potential cuts in defense spending resulting from the August debt ceiling deal.

The deal calls for $350 billion in defense cuts over 10 years — an average of $35 billion per year. In addition, it tasks the newly created congressional super-committee with finding an additional $1.2 trillion in savings over that same time period. Should the committee fail to come to an agreement on those savings, automatic cuts totaling the same amount, split evenly between defense and domestic spending, are slated to occur. If that took place, defense spending would then be reduced by $600 billion, an average of $60 billion per year.

That may sound like a huge dent in the Pentagon’s budget, but there are two things to keep in mind. First, those cuts are almost certainly reductions in the projected rate of budgetary growth, not actual reductions in spending. Second, total defense spending is around $1 trillion, according to economist Robert Higgs, of which $676 billion was budgeted to the Defense Department — up from $432 billion in 2001. Moreover, according to the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments:

“Overall, nearly half of the growth in defense spending over the past decade is unrelated to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq — personnel costs grew while end strength remained relatively flat, the cost of peacetime operations grew while the pace of peacetime operations declined, and acquisition costs increased while the inventory of equipment grew smaller and older. The base budget now supports a force with essentially the same size, force structure, and capabilities as in FY 2001 but at a 35 percent higher cost. The Department is spending more but not getting more.”

Full column by Michael Tennant @ http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/politics/8946-the-military-industrial-complexs-war-on-defense-cuts

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Suderman:”Blowback:America’s costly, counterproductive War on Terror”

Friday, May 6th, 2011

“It took nearly a decade after 9/11 to catch and kill Osama bin Laden. During that time, America launched two wars and a new cabinet-level security agency while funneling money into the defense budget at record levels. This was the United States government’s response to bin Laden, yet very little of it contributed to his capture. We know what bin Laden cost us: thousands of American lives, a sense of safety and security for millions more. But now, with bin Laden finally dead, America and its leaders must also come to grips with what we have chosen to spend reacting to his acts of terror—and the sad fact that most of it wasn’t worth the price.”

“In the decade since the 9/11 attacks, the United States has added roughly $950 billion in additional base spending to the defense budget. That’s not total spending; it’s merely the increase over the baseline versus if we’d held military spending constant starting in 2000. Nor does that number include the cost of two major wars in Iraq and Afghanistan—almost $1.3 trillion as of March 2011—or the $359 billion spent on the Department of Homeland Security, a sort of meta-agency created in 2002 to help coordinate the federal government’s tangled web of security initiatives.”

“It’s a massive commitment of time, money, and manpower, and it costs taxpayers dearly. Annual defense spending increased 84 percent between 2001 and 2011 in 2005-constant dollars. On an individualized basis, the United States spends vastly more than any other country on national security, with more than $2,000 in per capita spending. The United Kingdom, by contrast, spends less than $1,000 per capita.”

Peter Suderman @ Reason looks at how much the US government spent in the name of fighting “terrorism” and how little it protected us @ http://reason.com/archives/2011/05/06/blowback

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“America’s bloated defense budget is ripe for cutting”

Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011

“A view of defense that requires reshaping the world in America’s image is a blank check for the Pentagon. If it justifies $700 billion a year—about as much as the military spending of all other nations combined—why not twice or three times that amount? There will always be another hostile regime to replace or failed state to rebuild.”

“If conservatives applied to military spending the same skepticism they bring to misbegotten or obsolete domestic programs, they would ask whether making the world safe through democracy is a viable defense strategy. They might also wonder why we have 47,000 military personnel in Japan 66 years after the end of World War II, 28,500 in South Korea 58 years after its war with the North ended, and more than 80,000 in Europe 20 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union. These affluent countries are perfectly capable of defending themselves from whatever threats they still face.”

” “The Pentagon presently spends more in constant dollars than it did at any time during the Cold War,” notes Andrew Bacevich, a professor of international relations at Boston University. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), whose proposal for reducing this year’s federal spending by $500 billion includes $48 billion in defense cuts, notes that “military expenditure has increased by nearly 120 percent” since 2001.”

Full column by Jacob Sullum from Reason.com @ http://reason.com/archives/2011/02/02/no-military-immunity

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New Republicans, Same Old Militarism

Monday, January 24th, 2011

“As the 112th Congress gets under way, a key question remains about where tea-party influence will push the Republican caucus on foreign policy — toward a more restrained stance on overseas commitments and Pentagon spending, or in the familiar trajectory of fiscally calamitous military adventures.”

“Since the tea party took off last year, pundits have predicted that its anti-spending zealots would eventually target the Pentagon. Neoconservatives are clearly nervous about that prospect. Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham have lamented the rise of an “isolationist” wing of their party, and a slew of Wall Street Journal and National Review op-eds have warned tea partyers away from defense spending. Meanwhile, antiwar pundits have heralded every dovish murmur from the right.”

“But the evidence that the new Republicans will challenge defense spending is slight.”

Full analysis by Benjamin Friedman of The Cato Institute @ http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=12727

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Antiwar Conservatives Make a Strong Case

Tuesday, January 4th, 2011

“The conservative case against war is as old as our memory of George Washington and as recent as Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex) and his “Texas straight talk.”(1) In the roughly 200 years between Washington and Paul, many other conservatives were like them in opposing war unless it involved direct defense of the United States. They were against interventionism and empire-building abroad. They opposed U.S. conquest of overseas territories, such as Hawaii and the Philippines.(2)

“A substantial number of conservatives hold these views today. They oppose interventionism in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. They include many “Paulistas” who were activated by Rep. Paul’s 2007-08 presidential campaign. They also include the fiery Justin Raimondo of Antiwar.com; columnist Patrick Buchanan; Prof. Andrew Bacevich, a retired army colonel and author; and others.”

“Many antiwar conservatives, including Paul and Raimondo, have a libertarian orientation. Bacevich is a fiscal and social conservative. So is Buchanan, who argues against war and empire on grounds of U.S. self-interest…”

Complete commentary by Mary Meehan @ http://www.meehanreports.com/antiwarconservatives.html

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Bipartisan Warfare State

Friday, October 29th, 2010

“During the 1976 vice presidential debate between Senators Robert Dole, Republican of Kansas, and Democrat Walter Mondale of Minnesota, Dole outraged Democrats when he said: “All the wars of the 20th century have been Democrat (sic) wars.” That remark came barely 18 months after the fall of Saigon and may have reminded the nation that the Vietnam War, like Korea and both world wars, began with Democrats in the White House and in the majority in Congress. Dole, born in 1923, began his congressional career in 1961, when Republicans were still boasting of their ability to keep America out of wars, rather than their readiness to start one.”

Jack Kenny looks at how the Democrats & Republicans have come to see war and interventionism as the measure of America’s greatness @ http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/history/american/5028-bipartisan-warfare-state

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Rep Alan Grayson introduces The War is Making You Poor Act H.R. 5353

Saturday, August 14th, 2010

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It’s Obama’s War, All Right

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

“Afghan insurgent attacks killed six U.S. soldiers Saturday, bringing the total to 1,171 — and counting. Eight years after achieving our initial war aims, disrupting al Qaeda and punishing its Taliban protectors, we have 94,000 troops in-theater, chasing “50 to 100″ Al Qaeda operatives, “maybe less,” says President Obama’s CIA director.”

“Good news, though: Construction of Kabul’s 900,000-square-foot Police Training Center is “progressing according to plan.” After $27 billion spent, Afghan police are still “illiterate, corrupt, and trigger-happy,” their instructors lament, but a spiffy new training complex can’t hurt.”

“Enough. With American casualties mounting, it’s clearer than ever that “Operation Enduring Freedom” has become a sickening waste of blood and treasure.”

Complete commentary  on another war without end by Gene Healy @ http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=11975

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10 reasons to end the wars now

Monday, July 5th, 2010

The long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been back in the news recently, and we just had the bizarre spectacle of the Republican National Committee Chairman saying he didn’t like Obama’s war in Afghanistan, while the DNC chastised him for failing to support the troops.

Here are ten reasons to end the wars now. I hope you’ll take a look at some of the links.

1. American military and contractor casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan.

2. Iraqi and Afghanistan civilian and military casualties.

3. These wars are a tremendous waste of taxpayer money in a time of extreme deficits, high unemployment and a falling stock market.

4. Invading and occupying Afghanistan and Iraq feeds terrorism.

5. Osama Bin Laden and his co-conspirators who attacked the World Trade Center were Saudi Arabian.

6. As Congressman Ron Paul recently said: “In Afghanistan, we are fighting the Taliban, those dangerous people with guns defending their homeland. Once they were called the Mujahideen, our old allies, along with bin Laden, in the fight to oust the Soviets from Afghanistan in the 1980s.”

7. Most Republicans in Congress now admit Iraq was a mistake.

8. Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele’s comments show that even the hawkish Republican Party can’t support this war with a straight face.

9. As James Madison said, “If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.” (Witness the PATRIOT Act.)

10. The U.S. military has been in Iraq over seven years, and in Afghanistan almost nine years. It’s time to give peace a chance.

(Note, the LP doesn’t necessarily endorse the organizations linked above. We encourage you to research these issues for yourself.)

Source: The Libertarian Party @ http://www.lp.org/blogs/staff/lp-monday-message-10-reasons-to-end-the-wars-now

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The Iraq War: Still a Massive Mistake

Monday, April 5th, 2010

“There’s a growing narrative that Iraq’s solidifying democracy makes the seven years of US war and occupation a worthy enterprise.”

“Some observers have even spun Iraq’s March 7 elections as proof that democracy promotion via military occupation can succeed. Don’t believe the hype. The Iraq war remains a mistake of mammoth proportions. And Iraq’s election represents a pyrrhic victory, as the economic, political, and moral costs of the occupation far outweigh any benefits.”

“First are the sacrifices in terms of blood and treasure. The broad consensus is that the war has cost the US economy well over $700 billion – with the meter still running. The Iraq war has also left nearly 4,400 American troops dead, more than 31,000 physically disabled, and countless more psychologically traumatized.”

Malou Innocent looks at the cost  to America and to Iraq of the Iraq War @ http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=11658

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