US faces more threats than decade ago, warns head of its military

[alp227]

Source: The Guardian

The most senior figure in the US military has warned that the number of threats facing his country and its allies have increased over the last decade and that the armed forces must be kept strong to fight back.

In his first speech since taking over as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Martin Dempsey told an audience in London on Monday that meeting the new challenges in a time of austerity would require a transformation in military thinking.

He highlighted the cyber threat as one of the most pressing, and said more needed to be done to counter the dangers online.

"Our traditional alliances and partnerships around the world are the stable platform on which we will confront these challenges," he said. "Yet it cannot be lost on us that we now face known and unknown security challenges in the context of a new fiscal reality.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/28/us-more-threats-military-dempsey

[dipsydoodle]

1. aka

self inflicted wounds.

[DCBob]

2. There are different threats and there are also different ways of dealing with them.

multi-billion dollar aircraft carriers or billion dollar tanks are probably not the best way to counter these threats.

[Downtown Hound]

3. Yeah, that's what happens when you act like complete jackasses. n/t

[Speck Tater]

4. Head of the military says we need more military. Go figure. nt

[provis99]

5. we face a cyber threat so we need to build more nuclear attack submarines?

The military mind is a marvelous think to wonder at.

[Populist_Prole]

6. Ah Scare tactics time. Right on cue. I believed it then, no more dude.

This ex-neocon turned liberal can't be fooled again like I was in the 80's & 90's.

[Booster]

7. Well, shit happens when you go round the world bombing people.

[RKP5637]

8. Not surprised. The favorite pastime of the US anymore is to agitate the

rest of the world and supply arms.

[plumbob]

9. blah, blah, blah. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ and bullshit.

About sums up the military complex.

[mike_c]

10. cry me a river...

...but piss off, nonetheless. Cut the U.S. military budget by 75% or more!

[TheCowsCameHome]

11. What a surprise. Is he on commission?

Jesus H.......

[pasto76]

12. couple this with the headline yesterday about (R) rep wanting to "redo" auto budget cuts

and you have the right trying to frame President Obama to be the guy who is "destroying" the military with cuts.

[No Elephants]

19. Biggest mistake: basing ANY conduct on what the right might say about it.

[jwirr]

13. Sounds like just another way of talking about terrorism. According

to Chalmers Johnson we are already overstretched and pulling our own nation down into the hole - how much more do they want?

[Little Tich]

14. It's not as if the US isn't spending enough money on the military to face those threats.

In 2010 the US military received a whopping 687,105,000,000 USD, which is about 43% of the total military spending of the world. Badass China comes second with 114,300,000,000 USD, or 7,3% of the total world spenditure. Go figure.

Got my numbers from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures

[clixtox]

18. Without a doubt this obscenely gross total...

does not include many hidden programs and vast, otherwise obscured, spending by the USA on the military.

The USA is the main terrorist nation of the planet, besides being Israel's lap-dog, we are maintaining military bases in over a hundred countries around the world.

A reluctant, increasingly recalcitrant empire of exploited victims is an expensive proposition.

You and I get do not a nickels worth of value, or security, from these entirely wasteful, immoral expenditures.

In fact we are being moved into the "crosshairs" of "our" military, we are destined to be among the future victims of the 1%'s military minions.

All part of the police state we are currently laboring under...

Really!

[robinlynne]

15. umm. budget cuts?

[beardown]

16. Threats to who?

The nation they are sworn to protect or their budgets and post service military consulting jobs?

The main threat to the USA and assuming they take their oath to protect the nation and the Constitutions seriously, to the USA military is that the US middle class and industrial base will be hollowed out by the US corporations whose first priority is profits.

The next threat is being whipped up by these same US corporations' media by their campaign to demonize the government and the common good by playing on the worst characteristics of people to whip up anti-other-American hatred. Remember, Bush the stupid was wrong (redundant phrase) when he said our oceans had protected us in the past (assuming the British walked over the North Pole to burn Washington DC in the War of 1812. American versus hatred was not prevented by the ocean when we lost 600,000 American soldiers in the Civil War.

[eridani]

17. They really like selling armaments to potential enemies, thereby creating threats

--which of course must then be dealt with by even more advanced weaponry. It's like having a monopoly on a deadly poison and also its antidote. Nice work if you can get it.

[No Elephants]

20. Name the last time a military leader said we need less military or less money in the military budget

Biggest mistake Johnson made was listening to the U.S. military.

Possibly the Best thing that JFK did was refuse to allow the CIA and the U.S. military lead him into war with Cuba/Russia.

My favorite U.S. military budget story: The librarian at the Chaplain's School ordering every book on the book list from M to Z because the fiscal year was ending and he had not spent all of the money in the budget for the current fiscal year yet.

(The budget for the following fiscal year is based on what was spent during the prior fiscal year.)

[Scuba]

21. So he's saying that what we're doing is making it worse, and he wants to do more of it. n/t

[sendero]

22. Maybe...

.. but you idiots shot your wad on things that were not a threat. We are SO TIRED of your failed prognostications.

[timtom]

23. I so wholeheartedly agree

with this post and EVERY response in it!!

[Thor_MN]

24. Time for a complete reorg of the military.

Why do four of the five (including Coast Guard) need flight capacity? Of the five only one is truely defense, the others are offensive in nature - why do the call it the Defense Budget?

[Solly Mack]

25. Yeah?

[chrisa]

26. Eternal war

The US has always been under threat in some way or another. Where we went wrong, though, was overreacting to these threats and allowing Defense to gobble up our entire budget.

[krucial]

27. More propaganda

As expected,the spokesman for the military industrial complex and defense contra tors is warning us that we are doomed if we don't expand our military and defense.
The Sky will fall,we will cease to exist,Western civilization will be doomed,Israel will be threatened.

I am getting sick and tired of the same old song.
American Imperialism under the cloak of "defending America,our strategic interest,and defending freedom must end,to stop the killing,bloodshed pain and misery of those whose land we keep invading,occupying and destroying.

This warning of impending gloom and doom has been played out,Americans should be sick and tired by now,of being scared into a state of perpetual fear and paranoia,at perceived threat and imminent doom and peril.

There has not bee a time that I can remember where America was not killing people in their own land somewhere around the world,for some reason,and it does not matter what Party is in power,they both believe in the bottom line,American Imperialism.
We need a new course and a new system,this one we have is now morally and spiritually bankrupt,and heading towards a fascist,undemocratic totalitarian police state.

[Tom Ripley]

28. Be vewwy afwaid!

[Odin2005]

29. FEAR FEAR TERRA TERRA!!!

OBEY, SUBMIT, CONSUME!!!