Trimming the fat

**DJ Ms. White** · 01-05-12, 04:07 PM

It will be interesting to see the changes if and when they are accepted by Congress.
BBC News - Obama unveils new strategy for 'leaner' US military

**QuickLightning** · 01-05-12, 04:26 PM

A big IF. Count me as a skeptic on this proposal being anything more than a gesture to help secure the seat for another 4 years.

The military is bloated as hell and responsible for a vast majority of our tax dollar waste. But I don't see the cuts actually going through. Definitely not at the magnitude of 10-15%. Government has a lot of trouble functioning on that level of cutbacks.

**SmokenScion** · 01-05-12, 04:32 PM

Didn't we just sell 53 billion in arms and stuff to Iraq?

**AetheLove** · 01-05-12, 05:06 PM

Originally Posted by SmokenScion

Didn't we just sell 53 billion in arms and stuff to Iraq?

I almost answered this, then thought "oh, it's a joke. he's joking."

Cheers,

AetheLove

**SmokenScion** · 01-05-12, 05:11 PM

Originally Posted by AetheLove

I almost answered this, then thought "oh, it's a joke. he's joking."

Cheers,

AetheLove

Obama administration announces new arm sales to Gulf allies - Washington DC Foreign Policy | Examiner.com

11b to Iraq, and 53 to Bahrain, 29.4 to Saudi.................Or is this discussion solely based on Troops, (soldiers)

I wasn't really, maybe I don't Grasp the full extent of this article and close to 100billion in arms sales is a mere drop in the pool, or ocean. Enlighten please.

**AetheLove** · 01-05-12, 05:46 PM

Originally Posted by SmokenScion

Obama administration announces new arm sales to Gulf allies - Washington DC Foreign Policy | Examiner.com

11b to Iraq, and 53 to Bahrain, 29.4 to Saudi.................Or is this discussion solely based on Troops, (soldiers)

I wasn't really, maybe I don't Grasp the full extent of this article and close to 100billion in arms sales is a mere drop in the pool, or ocean. Enlighten please.

I don't grasp it completely either. But a couple things come to mind.

First, extra arms sales this year help someone this year. The defence budget is a yearly thing. Iraq might not want to spend an extra 53 Billion every year. Last I saw, their TO DO list was pretty long. They probably think they have something better to do with that money. As do we.

Second, I don't think an arms deal is necessarily helping the DoD's bottom line. I'm sure the money washes around and around in the military-industrial complex, but it seems to me that the sale of 18 F16s to Iraq (part of the $11 B deal) is mostly a good thing for Lockheed Martin; not the Pentagon.

Third, what's wrong with both? I guess it's good for Raytheon to pad their quarterly figures with an over-seas deal, but can't we ALSO cut the budget?

Cheers,

AetheLove

**deathgodusmc** · 01-06-12, 07:08 PM

Nothing more then someone blowing smoke at reelection time. Even if hell froze over and they did cut the defense budget they would cut all he wrong areas.