"We must reign in out of control Defense Spending and I intend to do that"

[Toots]

I thought that statement took a lot of guts. Defense Spending has become America's Sacred Cow. It is like saying I don't support the troops. It is, next to our debt expense, our greatest expenditure in America and can certainly use some cuts. Why should the USA spend more than the next ten largest countries combined on implements of death?

[ellenfl]

1. who said it? i missed it. i would guess it was kucinich. eom

[Toots]

2. We'll see if anyone else caught it

:shrug:

[Richardo]

3. Well, considering the next President will have to rebuild a squandered Army...

...I'm not sure how realistic, or even desireable, that is.

Soldiers, weapons and equipment have all been wasted for the past 6 years without replenishment. Whoever is inaugurated in 2009 will be basically starting from scratch to rebuild our defenses.

[Neecy]

6. this is true, to an extent

But how much of the Pentagon spending in the last 6 years has gone to Bush cronies on things that the military could have done without? The no-bid contracts alone are a huge waste - make the process competitive again and trim the defense budget without losing a thing.

[Richardo]

7. I fully agree with that.

Plus, I would ban all private contractors in a war zone. Failing that, I would forbid private contrators to carry firearms. That would ONLY be handled by professional Armed Services personnel operating under military code.

[Toots]

4. It was Hillary

I didn't notice a single other candidate back her up on that either..

[shadowknows69]

9. I thought I heard Edwards say something very similar. Missed Hillary saying it.

[Sherman A1]

5. Yes, we do need to rebuild our forces, however

we spend as much as the rest of the world combined on Defense. So I would figure that we could rebuild and make some cuts at the same time. Besides we need to address the equipment that has been worn out in Iraq. Just how much of it is needed and how much of it relates to the future? Recently the US Navy announced that it was going to make greater efforts to be a "kinder, gentler" Navy and more helpful whenever possible. Doing so helps them to gain intel and future friends for when the chips are down.

[shadowknows69]

8. It was Edwards

[Bigmack]

10. Everybody here seems to agree....

that the US needs to rebuild its military.

Why? How much?

Has the military done much to increase our security in the last 10 years? Remember, the military/intel complex somehow failed to stop a few guys with boxcutters from turning our country into a paranoid security state. (Assuming they failed rather than some kind of LIHOP or MIHOP situation.)

We can rebuild to the point of having a strong quick-reaction Marine Corps and Army, an Air Force with enough arms and delivery systems to deter whatever countries get nuclear weapons in the next few years, and a Navy able to defend the coasts and shipping. That's a helluva lot smaller than what we have now.

The best argument against rebuilding the bloated military we have had in the past is simple.... we can't afford to! The debt is thru the roof, the dollar is in free-fall, oil is going to go over the $100 mark, and this country doesn't actually make anything anymore.

[Bandit]

11. We seemed to do alright during Democratic contolbetween 1950-1990

Democrats kept Defense spending under control and kept America safe at the same time. People were not scared to death all the time during that time frame. America had a good strong military that was respected throughout the world. That is no lnger true because IMO more than sixty percent of Defense spending is corrupt and doesn't benefit our military one iota. Let us keep a strong military but also curb in corrupt defense spending contracts and bogus projects. We can do both. Just because we spend more does not mean we get more...

[Bigmack]

12. "Dems kept Defense spending...

under control between 1950-1990." Huh? WTF?

(I just threw the first defense spending chart I could find below... apologies... it's from outsidethebeltway.com.)

http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/2007/03/us_defense_spending_below_average/dod_budget_1950-1997_in_2002_dollars/

Time for a serious belt-tightening, not just a trim.

[tabasco]

13. It's more than the rest of the world now, toots.

We reached that milestone in 2006.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/spending.htm

[tuckessee]

14. How can that be done while still maintaining the illegal Empire?

Unless coupled with a complete change in foreign policy such talk is garbage.