What?
What Are We Spending Our Defense Money On?
By Daniel G. Jennings
What I wonder will it take for our military to start devoting the vast majority of its resources and manpower to fighting or preparing to fight our nation’s primary enemy: Islamic terrorists?
I ask this question because recent news stories indicate that the Pentagon is spending billions of dollars on questionable projects while our troops in Iraq sometimes lack such basic equipment as body armor and armored vehicles. These projects involve massive high-tech weapons systems that will be of little or no use in the war on terror and waste money and resources that could be used to make our forces more effective.
The most questionable weapons program the Pentagon is wasting money on is missile defense. That is high tech means of shooting down ballistic missiles fired at the US. There is little evidence that such a missile shield would work and even if it did there are many other ways of delivering weapons of mass destruction to American shores. Nor is there evidence that any credible enemy is developing nuclear missiles capable of hitting the US. Billions are wasted on strategic missile defense, billions that could better spent eliminating the threat from missiles abroad either through diplomacy or preemptive military action.
Then there is the latest US nuclear submarine, the USS Jimmy Carter, the last ship of the Sea Wolf Class. Since no other nation on Earth has a large scale ocean going navy there is little or no need for a fleet of submarines to sink enemy ships. To make the Carter useful in today’s world the Navy has reportedly equipped it for the war on terror.
The Carter can tap into undersea cables and monitor communications. A very useful capability if we were still fighting Kaiser Wilhelm II and the German Empire in World War I. Wouldn’t it be cheaper and easier to have our agents or allies overseas simply tap into the cables in one of the world’s cities? It’d also be far easier to deny. Gee we don’t know who that guy in the telephone company uniform who put the tap on your fiber optic cable was. Of course, if the bad guys use wireless communications the Jimmy Carter and its expensive electronics will be useless.
The Jimmy Carter can also deliver about fifty commandos to the world’s trouble spots. That’s about the same number as a cheaper and more versatile transport plane could deliver. The plane of course could drop the commandos as far inland as necessary. The Carter’s commandos would only be useful if the bad guys are considerate enough to place their base within walking distance of the ocean. Nor could commandos from the Carter bring the heavy weaponry and firepower they would need to support the ground assault. Remember Black Hawk Down in Mogadishu, lightly armed commandos were sitting ducks for Third World Goons with heavy weapons? The same tribesmen couldn’t run off fast enough when Pakistani soldiers attacked with thirty year old tanks.
So I have to question the purpose of the Jimmy Carter is? There’s no enemy navy to sink, its use as a delivery platform for commandos or a communications interception vehicle is limited. Other than providing lucrative contracts for defense contractors, jobs for shipyard workers and jobs for naval officers the Carter has no purpose. In other words, the Jimmy Carter is little more than a questionable public works project. The money and resources used to create it could be better used on weapons, vehicles and training our troops could use in the field against today’s enemies. How much battle armor, how many armored Humvees, improved rifles and how many fighter bombers could be purchased for the billions spent on the Carter?
If we need a high-tech public works project to provide jobs and money for contractors. Wouldn’t a high-speed rail line between two major American cities like Las Vegas and Los Angeles make a lot more sense? That’s something that would enhance the lives of average Americans and decrease our dependence on foreign oil? It’s also something that would actually serve a purpose.
It’s time we took a hard look at the Pentagon and the way it allocates money and resources to our military. Especially since that money could be better spent elsewhere to improve our ability to defend ourselves, improve our quality of life and maintain world peace.
By Daniel G. Jennings
What I wonder will it take for our military to start devoting the vast majority of its resources and manpower to fighting or preparing to fight our nation’s primary enemy: Islamic terrorists?
I ask this question because recent news stories indicate that the Pentagon is spending billions of dollars on questionable projects while our troops in Iraq sometimes lack such basic equipment as body armor and armored vehicles. These projects involve massive high-tech weapons systems that will be of little or no use in the war on terror and waste money and resources that could be used to make our forces more effective.
The most questionable weapons program the Pentagon is wasting money on is missile defense. That is high tech means of shooting down ballistic missiles fired at the US. There is little evidence that such a missile shield would work and even if it did there are many other ways of delivering weapons of mass destruction to American shores. Nor is there evidence that any credible enemy is developing nuclear missiles capable of hitting the US. Billions are wasted on strategic missile defense, billions that could better spent eliminating the threat from missiles abroad either through diplomacy or preemptive military action.
Then there is the latest US nuclear submarine, the USS Jimmy Carter, the last ship of the Sea Wolf Class. Since no other nation on Earth has a large scale ocean going navy there is little or no need for a fleet of submarines to sink enemy ships. To make the Carter useful in today’s world the Navy has reportedly equipped it for the war on terror.
The Carter can tap into undersea cables and monitor communications. A very useful capability if we were still fighting Kaiser Wilhelm II and the German Empire in World War I. Wouldn’t it be cheaper and easier to have our agents or allies overseas simply tap into the cables in one of the world’s cities? It’d also be far easier to deny. Gee we don’t know who that guy in the telephone company uniform who put the tap on your fiber optic cable was. Of course, if the bad guys use wireless communications the Jimmy Carter and its expensive electronics will be useless.
The Jimmy Carter can also deliver about fifty commandos to the world’s trouble spots. That’s about the same number as a cheaper and more versatile transport plane could deliver. The plane of course could drop the commandos as far inland as necessary. The Carter’s commandos would only be useful if the bad guys are considerate enough to place their base within walking distance of the ocean. Nor could commandos from the Carter bring the heavy weaponry and firepower they would need to support the ground assault. Remember Black Hawk Down in Mogadishu, lightly armed commandos were sitting ducks for Third World Goons with heavy weapons? The same tribesmen couldn’t run off fast enough when Pakistani soldiers attacked with thirty year old tanks.
So I have to question the purpose of the Jimmy Carter is? There’s no enemy navy to sink, its use as a delivery platform for commandos or a communications interception vehicle is limited. Other than providing lucrative contracts for defense contractors, jobs for shipyard workers and jobs for naval officers the Carter has no purpose. In other words, the Jimmy Carter is little more than a questionable public works project. The money and resources used to create it could be better used on weapons, vehicles and training our troops could use in the field against today’s enemies. How much battle armor, how many armored Humvees, improved rifles and how many fighter bombers could be purchased for the billions spent on the Carter?
If we need a high-tech public works project to provide jobs and money for contractors. Wouldn’t a high-speed rail line between two major American cities like Las Vegas and Los Angeles make a lot more sense? That’s something that would enhance the lives of average Americans and decrease our dependence on foreign oil? It’s also something that would actually serve a purpose.
It’s time we took a hard look at the Pentagon and the way it allocates money and resources to our military. Especially since that money could be better spent elsewhere to improve our ability to defend ourselves, improve our quality of life and maintain world peace.
posted by great one at 4:34 PM
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