NY Times: Obama to Propose Shrinking Military to 'Pre-World
War II Level'
Monday, 24 Feb 2014 05:19 AM
By Newsmax Wires
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will propose on Monday a
reduction in the size of the U.S.
military to its smallest size since before World War II and scrapping a class
of Air Force attack jets, The New York Times reported late Sunday.
The plans, which the paper said
were outlined by several Pentagon officials on condition of anonymity, would be
aimed at reducing defense spending in the face of government austerity after a
pledge by President Barack Obama to end U.S.
involvement in wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan.
It would leave the military
capable of defeating any enemy but too small for long foreign occupations, and
would involve greater risk if U.S.
forces were asked to carry out two large-scale military actions at the same
time.
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Specifically, officials
acknowledged that winning such a war would take longer, and there would be a
larger number of casualties.
The plan also would:
transfer the National Guard's
Apache attack helicopters to the active-duty Army, which would transfer its
Black Hawk helicopters to the National Guard.
create an increase in health
insurance deductibles and some co-pays for some military retirees and for some
family members of active servicemen.
call for slowing the growth of
tax-free housing allowances for military personnel and would reduce the $1.4
billion direct subsidy provided to military commissaries.
eliminate the entire fleet of Air
Force A-10 attack aircraft.
retire the famed U-2 spy plane in
favor of the remotely piloted Global Hawk.
"You have to always keep your
institution prepared, but you can't carry a large land-war Defense Department
when there is no large land war," the Times quoted a senior Pentagon
official as saying.
The Times added that some of the
plans may face political opposition in Congress, but quoted the officials as
saying that they had the endorsement of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
On Friday, The Wall Street Journal
reported that Hagel is seeking a limit on both military pay raises and
health-care benefits.
He also is looking at much less
generous housing allowances, and a one-year freeze on raises for top military
brass.
"Personnel costs reflect some
50 percent of the Pentagon budget and cannot be exempted in the context of the
significant cuts the department is facing," Defense Department spokesman
Adm. John Kirby told the Journal. "Secretary Hagel has been clear that,
while we do not want to, we ultimately must slow the growth of military pay and
compensation."
"This is a real uphill battle
with Congress," Mieke Eoyang, director of the National Security Program at
Third Way, a centrist think tank in
Washington, told the Journal
"God bless [Hagel] for trying
to get a handle on these costs," she said. "But in this political
environment, in an election year, it's going to be hard for members of Congress
to accept anything that's viewed as taking benefits away from troops."
Chuck Hagel
Chuck
Hagel is the secretary U.S.
Department of Defense for the Barack
Obama administration, and was the chairman for the Atlantic Council of
the United States
(think tank).
Note: Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank), and the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank).
George Soros
is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, and is a
board member for the International
Crisis Group.
Kirk A.
Radke is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), and
a trustee at the Third Way.
Third Way
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Chas. W. Freeman
Jr. is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), a
trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace (think tank), and was the National Intelligence Council
chairman nominee for the Barack Obama
administration.
Jessica Tuchman Mathews was a board
member for the International Crisis
Group, is the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace (think tank), a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg
(think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Ed Griffin’s interview with
Norman Dodd in 1982
(The investigation into the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace uncovered the plans for population
control by involving the United
States in war)
Andrew Carnegie
was the founder of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think
tank), and the founder of the Carnegie
Corporation of New York.
Kofi
A. Annan was a trustee at the Carnegie
Corporation of New York, the United
Nations secretary general, is a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace (think tank), and a board member for the International Crisis Group.
Carnegie
Corporation of New York was a funder for the Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank).
Chuck
Hagel was the chairman for the Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank), and is the secretary U.S.
Department of Defense for the Barack
Obama administration.
Newton
N. Minow is an honorary trustee at the Carnegie
Corporation of New York, a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and a senior counsel at Sidley Austin LLP.
William
M. Daley is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, a trustee at the Third Way,
Richard M. Daley’s brother, and was the
chief of staff for the Barack Obama
administration.
R.
Eden Martin is the president of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP
Michelle
Obama was a lawyer at Sidley Austin
LLP, and Richard M. Daley’s
staffer.
Barack
Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin
LLP, a chairman for the Chicago
Annenberg Challenge, and a director at the Woods Fund of Chicago.
Bernadine Dohrn
was a litigator at Sidley Austin LLP,
a member of the Weather Underground,
and is married to William C. Ayers.
William C. Ayers
is married to Bernadine Dohrn, Richard M. Daley’s adviser, was a
member of the Weather Underground, a
chairman for the Chicago Annenberg
Challenge, and a director at the Woods
Fund of Chicago.
Richard
M. Daley’s adviser is William C.
Ayers, is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, William M. Daley’s
brother, was the Chicago (IL) mayor,
Michelle Obama was his staffer, and Valerie B. Jarrett was his deputy chief
of staff.
William
M. Daley is Mayor Richard M. Daley’s
brother, a member of the Commercial Club
of Chicago, a trustee at the Third
Way, and was the chief of staff for the Barack Obama administration.
Valerie B. Jarrett
was Richard M. Daley’s deputy chief
of staff, is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and the senior adviser for the Barack Obama administration.
Kirk A.
Radke is a trustee at the Third
Way, and a director at the Atlantic Council
of the United States
(think tank).
Chuck
Hagel was the chairman for the Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank), and is the secretary U.S.
Department of Defense for the Barack
Obama administration.
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