Defense analysts and military personnel are trained to analyze the U.S. defense posture in a certain way. But even analysts who are trying to be restrained in their assessment of threats and force and equipment requirements are politically naïve about the way the real world of defense budgeting works. A different approach is needed to …
Continue reading “Across-the-Board Cuts Are the Only Road to Budget Reduction”
Back in 2007, when Gen. David Petraeus was the surge commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, he had a penchant for clock imagery. In an interview in April of that year, he typically said: “I’m conscious of a couple of things. One is that the Washington clock is moving more rapidly than the Baghdad clock, …
Continue reading “Our Wars Are Killing Us”
The results of the special election for the Massachusetts Senate seat once held by Ted Kennedy reverberated like a "shot heard ’round the world" – or at least one heard ’round Washington. All the spending lately in Washington has apparently alienated the political independents that Barack Obama won in November 2008. And the president gets …
Continue reading “Why Freeze Spending on Only Part of the Budget?”
Updated at 5:35 p.m. EDT, Oct. 14, 2009
At least 15 Iraqis were killed and 64 more were wounded in attacks that included bombings in the holy city of Karbala. Meanwhile, the government has released its first official death toll and approved a draft budget.
