THE PRESENT DANGER
"Standing In Defense of International Law, International Cooperation, and Multilateralism"
presentdanger.org
January 28, 2003
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Introducing a new commentary from The Project Against the Present Danger
Pump Up the Pentagon, Hawks tell Bush
By Jim Lobe
While public opinion polls show that most of the U.S. public is concerned about the economy, hawks in the Bush administration see another problem as more urgent: the Pentagon is poor. Last week a group of influential right-wing figures close to Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney complained that the current military budget of almost $400 billion -- already greater than the world's 15 next-biggest military establishments combined -- is not enough to sustain U.S. strategy abroad.
In a letter to the president released on the eve of his State of the Union Address, the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), whose alumni include both Rumsfeld and Cheney, as well as most of their top aides, called for increasing the defense budget by as much as $100 billion next year. "Today's military is simply too small for the missions it must perform," said the letter whose signatories included mainly key neo-conservatives, former Reagan administration officials, and a number of individuals close to big defense manufacturers like Lockheed Martin. "By every measure, current defense spending is inadequate for a military with global responsibilities."
The letter also suggested that Washington should prepare for confrontations with North Korea, Iran, and China.
Jim Lobe <jlobe@starpower.net> is a policy analyst for Foreign Policy In Focus (online at www.fpif.org). He also writes regularly for Inter Press Service.
See complete new Present Danger commentary online at:
presentdanger.org
<http://www.presentdanger.org/commentary/2003/0301pnac.html> With printer-friendly PDF version at:
presentdanger.org
<http://www.presentdanger.org/pdf/gac/0301pnac.pdf> For Background and other analysis see:
PNAC's Open Letter to the President about the defense budget.
newamericancentury.org
<http://www.newamericancentury.org/Bushletter-012303.htm> PNAC'S Present Dangers As Blueprint for Bush Doctrine
By Tom Barry
presentdanger.org
<http://www.presentdanger.org/frontier/2002/1031neocon.html> A Strategy Foretold
By Tom Barry
presentdanger.org
<http://www.presentdanger.org/papers/foretold.html> U.S. Foreign Policy-Attention, Right Face, Forward March
By Tom Barry and Jim Lobe
fpif.org
<http://www.fpif.org/papers/02right/index.html> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Interhemispheric Resource Center (IRC)
irc-online.org
<http://www.irc-online.org/> Siri D. Khalsa
Communications Coordinator
Email: communications@irc-online.org |
