Geoffrey P. Wiedeman Jr.
The Sacramento Bee
Re “U.S. military future: Strong reasons to cut spending” (Online, Jan 9): In his column about President Obama’s plan for a slimmer military, defense analyst Michael O’Hanlon noted that the president’s vision doesn’t account for the trillion-dollar defense cuts proposed by the congressional debt ceiling deal, $500 billion of which would be cut indiscriminately from every defense line-item, from three-ring binders to body armor. To say these cuts are “ill-advised” is an understatement.
As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan wind down, it makes sense to trim our force structure and reform our bureaucracy.
But the debt ceiling deal defense cuts would cut our military to its smallest size since World War II, draining funding to replace fighter jets that are often older than their pilots, aging bomber aircraft that spend more time in the shop than in the air, and critical research and development programs that deliver the superior intelligence and weapons technologies of tomorrow.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has said the debt ceiling deal could drive unemployment above 10 percent. The defense cuts proposed by Congress’s debt ceiling deal aren’t just ill-advised.
Source: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/01/21/4203806/letters-to-the-editor.html
