Rumsfeld Cautious On Increasing Size of U.S. Military

[Dover]

Rumsfeld Cautious on Increasing Size of U.S. Military?????

(This goes down as one of the most laughable and misleading headlines in history! Rumsfeld simply wants to privatize....it's more "efficient" don't ya know).

Tue August 5, 2003 04:53 PM ET


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Despite the stress of global missions on the U.S. military, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Tuesday he had seen no conclusive evidence yet that America's 1.4 million troops should be increased.

Rumsfeld said he was studying the problem with top military officials but that other avenues for making the military more efficient remained available, including shifting tens of thousands of non-combat jobs handled by troops to civilian defense workers.

"At the moment I don't believe that anyone that I've talked to has evidence that argues that we have done those kinds of things sufficiently effectively that one could make a current case for increasing end-strength," he told reporters......MORE

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=3225164

[moondust]

1. Privatize and outsource.

Get those Indian troops to do the dirty work and put the billions saved in your pocket, eh Rummy?

[Jacobin]

2. It's just a way to make the fighting force bigger

turn all the cooks and desk jockeys into infantry, hire private cooks and desk jockeys, but don't call them military.

Poof, you just increased the fighting force and get to lie about doing it.

Next stop: IRAN!!!!!!

[teryang]

3. defense dollars for defense contractors

Not troops! Squeeze the extra profits out of the troops in Iraq.

[AliceWonderland]

4. Cha-ching

Surprise, surprise. Build an empire and make big bucks at the same time. It's a no-lose situation for a maniac like Rummy.

[imax2268]

5. Just one more reason...

that I think in 04, things are going to change...BIG TIME...!

What about that 400 billion dollar defense budget...?

[MidwestTransplant]

6. I love it when comentators say the troops are

stretched thin bcause of Clinton yet Rummy has even discussed shrinking the force more.

[belab13]

7. It's about space

and yes private contractors rule that particular sector.

[starroute]

8. This is why our troops are already being shorted

http://www.newhousenews.com/archive/wood080103.html

U.S. troops in Iraq suffered through months of unnecessarily poor living conditions because some civilian contractors hired by the Army for logistics support failed to show up, Army officers said.

Months after American combat troops settled into occupation duty, they were camped out in primitive, dust-blown shelters without windows or air conditioning. The Army has invested heavily in modular barracks, showers, bathroom facilities and field kitchens, but troops in Iraq were using ramshackle plywood latrines and living without fresh food or regular access to showers and telephones.

Even mail delivery -- also managed by civilian contractors -- fell weeks behind.

Though conditions have improved, the problems raise new concerns about the Pentagon's growing global reliance on defense contractors for everything from laundry service to combat training and aircraft maintenance. Civilians help operate Navy Aegis cruisers and Global Hawk, the high-tech robot spy plane.

Civilian contractors may work well enough in peacetime, critics say. But what about in a crisis?

[VolcanoJen]

9. Kick!!

:dem:

[ze_dscherman]

10. Article from Washington Post

From a locked thread: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21684-2003Aug5.html

Locked thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=53851&mesg_id=53851