Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: American Spirit who wrote (422638)	7/3/2003 1:56:01 PM
From: JakeStraw	Respond to of 769670

"The Pentagon's Empty Shelves", New York Post Tuesday, May 4, 1999, p. 27. "The war in Yugoslavia is already shaping up as one of the most poorly planned conflicts in American history. As a consequence, defense officials are scrambling to pull together the resources needed to sustain our operations there. Unfortunately, they are bumping up against severe limits resulting from the drastic deterioration of U.S. military capability during the Clinton administration." Does this sound familiar? By 1980, Democratic President Jimmy Carter had allowed the American military to so dramatically deteriorate in just four short years, that many in the military were alarmed Russia might be tempted to strike against Europe. Our supplies of munitions and critically needed spare parts, as well as a great variety of other supplies, were so short it was reported that American forces could not sustain all-out conventional war for more than 2 weeks. This fact became such a strong election issue that Ronald Reagan was able to win the election, with this one issue attracting many Conservative Democrat voters to his side. Now, we have seen even more deterioration from 7 years of another Democratic President, Clinton -- that old college student war-protestor. As you read these statistics, remember that Clinton is the only American President of this century to have spent 3 weeks in the Kremlin getting who knows what kind of training from the KGB! Perhaps the American voters in both 1992 and 1996 should have cared more about what Clinton was doing fraternizing with the enemy. Perhaps Clinton's actions regarding the disarmament of the American military was one of the lessons he received from the KGB that fateful December of 1969. As you read these statistics, ask yourself if the Russians or the Chinese could have ever inflicted this kind of damage to our military. Remember, your life is at stake, so this is not an idle subject. Now, let us return to this editorial. "In just fiscal 1998 alone, the Defense Department lost the following assets: 1. Aircraft -- The number of combat aircraft fell by 434, or 4.8 percent. Sixty-two airlift planes were taken from service, reducing the number of aircraft available by 6.6 percent." 2. Ships -- More than 10 percent of all submarines were decommissioned, reducing the total from 123 from 137 the year before. Ten support ships were lost and 684 small boats. Overall, U.S. ship strength was reduced by 16 percent." 3. Combat Vehicles -- The number of tanks was reduced by 827 or 7.6 percent. Other combat vehicles fell by 6,360 or 14.5 percent. Overall, available combat vehicles declined 13.1 percent." "In real terms, adjusted for inflation, defense spending has fallen every year of the Clinton administration thus far, from $298.4 billion in 1992 to $236.6 billion last year (in 1992 dollars). Moreover, increasing amounts of defense spending have been diverted into non-military operations, such as environmental cleanup. As a consequence, we now are finding the shelves are nearly empty, with many items needed to sustain combat operations in short supply." "But resupplying our armed forces is not a simple matter. The production lines for many weapons have been shut down. It is not possible ... to quickly replace the F-117 Stealth fighter that was lost because F-117s are no longer being manufactured. The same is true of air-launched cruise missiles, which have been heavily used so far in Yugoslavia. Of course, production lines can be reopened. But the engineers and other skilled workers needed to operate those lines are no longer available; neither are the specialized suppliers." "... even if the Yugoslavia conflict ends soon, it has exposed serious weaknesses in U.S. military strength that will have to be rectified. And rectifying them may cost far more than it would to have maintained our strength all along."