Hawks Urge Boosting Military Spending

[laststeamtrain]

U.S.: Hawks Urge Boosting Military Spending
By Jim Lobe*

WASHINGTON, Feb 4 (IPS) - Despite a shrinking national economy and a record defence budget, U.S. neo-conservatives and other right-wing hawks are mounting a spirited - if misleading - campaign to persuade Congress that the military should get a bigger slice.

They are calling on Congress and President Barack Obama to boost military spending next year even beyond the projections made by the administration of former President George W. Bush as to what would be needed.

They are also arguing for devoting tens of billions of dollars of the nearly one-trillion-dollar economic stimulus package that Obama is trying to push through Congress by mid-February to defence spending, insisting that increased orders from largely U.S.-based military contractors should translate quickly into more jobs at a time when official unemployment rate is moving quickly toward two digits.

"These kinds of expenditures not only make economic good sense, but would help close the large and long-standing gap between U.S. strategy and military resources," wrote Tom Donnelly, a military analyst at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a predominantly neo-conservative think tank, last month.

"If bridges need fixing, so too do the tools with which our military fights," he argued, adding that Congress should increase defence spending by at least 20 billion dollars a year. "A critical element in any recovery will be strengthening the foundations of a global economy, built upon U.S. worldwide security guarantees."

The campaign, which coincides with increased spending by major defence contractors for lobbying activities, comes at a critical moment for the new administration, which is focused more on getting the stimulus package passed quickly than on its precise content and on getting its key appointees confirmed and in place in the sprawling bureaucracies that make up the government.

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http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45676

[izquierdista]

1. Hawks will cook our goose

Stupid military spending is what CAUSED 95% of the problems, including the attacks of Sept. 11. But just like an old coot who never saw a gun he didn't want to buy while his family went without the essentials, these old buzzards will continue to flap their guns and their gums. People should quit referring to them as 'hawks' and use a more appropriate term -- "Dodos".

[Postman]

2. Because a Hundred Bazillion Dollars isn't enough.....

I say cut the "Defense" :sarcasm: budget in half

[laststeamtrain]

3. "End corporate welfare; cut the defense budget."

That should be the slogan for the resurgent Democratic party. Short & sweet.

[laststeamtrain]

4. ...

Kicked (because I) can.