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Gates readies big cuts in weapons
Boston.com ^ | 3/23/09 | Bryan Bender

Posted on 03/23/2009 4:57:29 PM PDT by Nachum

As the Bush administration was drawing to a close, Robert M. Gates, whose two years as defense secretary had been devoted to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, felt compelled to warn his successor of a crisis closer to home.

(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bhodod; big; bobgates; cuts; defensespending; gates; readies; secdef
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I did not see this posted before, but it was part of three articles quoted in a Standard opinion piece. All three are linked at my site. Paints a very dim picture of what they are planning for the military.
1 posted on 03/23/2009 4:57:29 PM PDT by Nachum
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To: SumProVita; HardStarboard; BradyLS; Ernest_at_the_Beach; dervish; Twotone; Free ThinkerNY; ...

The List, ping


2 posted on 03/23/2009 4:58:04 PM PDT by Nachum (the complete list at www.nachumlist.com)
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To: Nachum

They could have a yard sale. One man’s junk is another man’s pleasure...


3 posted on 03/23/2009 5:00:25 PM PDT by Migraine (Diversity is great... ...until it happens to YOU.)
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To: Nachum

well, there goes high tech companies development of new military toys.


4 posted on 03/23/2009 5:02:55 PM PDT by WorkerbeeCitizen (The only time I want a Republican reaching across the aisle is to smack a liberal.)
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To: Nachum
Gates readies big cuts in weapons

Yeah, VISTA darn near killed every one's PC's

What? Not THAT Gates?

Never mind....

5 posted on 03/23/2009 5:03:05 PM PDT by llevrok ("I have never understood multiparty democracy." - HR Clinton 3/6/09)
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To: Nachum
Gates is not the first secretary to try to change military priorities. His predecessor, Donald H. Rumsfeld, sought to retool the military but succeeded in cancelling only one major project, an Army artillery system.

There was also the Comanche helicopter. Typical MSM diligence.

6 posted on 03/23/2009 5:09:32 PM PDT by SeeSharp
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To: Nachum

Bush appointed Gates because he was the consumate DC politician.

I miss Rummy!


7 posted on 03/23/2009 5:09:51 PM PDT by neocon1984
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To: Nachum

So, we are going to “invest” in roads and bridges we might not even need, so that we can employ more illegal aliens.

However, we will wound our manufacturing base by cutting off weapons programs that have already been approved?


8 posted on 03/23/2009 5:10:41 PM PDT by Kansas58
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To: Kansas58
However, we will wound our manufacturing base by cutting off weapons programs that have already been approved?

I'm not nearly as worried about our wounded manufacturing base, as our wounded or killed military, who won't have the latest and greatest, as 100 million ChiComs come to collect the debt we owe.

9 posted on 03/23/2009 5:17:27 PM PDT by mountn man (The pleasure you get from life, is equal to the attitude you put into it.)
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To: Kansas58

Time to take down all the GPS satellites which are used to guide weapons.....oh, that was military technology adapted to commercial use. But Obama doesn’t need GPS he has his own fleet of planes, helicopters, cars, etc. The next war will be fought by his own volunteer troops with GREEN weapons like sling shots.


10 posted on 03/23/2009 5:20:36 PM PDT by Claytonbridge
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To: neocon1984

Rummy didn’t listen to his Generals. We’re well rid of him.


11 posted on 03/23/2009 5:31:39 PM PDT by saganite (What would Sully do?)
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To: neocon1984

There will be a next time for some one to say
“You go to war with the Army you have, not the one you want to have”

Go easy on the cuts, thats American lives your sending to battle


12 posted on 03/23/2009 5:37:01 PM PDT by reefdiver (How do you keep the Conservative a Conservative, in Washington DC ?)
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To: saganite
No, we're not.


13 posted on 03/23/2009 5:58:03 PM PDT by rlmorel ("The Road to Serfdom" by F.A.Hayek - Read it...today.)
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To: reefdiver; Jeff Head
The Navy plan being floated is to go to 10 carrier battle groups by 2012, with the resultant loss of an air wing and all the support structure for a battle group.

They get there by retiring the Enterprise in 2012 as planned, foregoing the refueling of the Lincoln (CVN-72) and sending it directly to mothballs about the time CVN-78 comes online.

This comes as China is proceeding with carrier development.

This is the Navy's plan but I suspect that Obama will try to cut deeper.

Hope & change, VA voters/shipyard workers. Have fun.

14 posted on 03/23/2009 6:01:15 PM PDT by Al B.
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To: Nachum
>Gates will announce up to a half-dozen major weapons cancellations later this month.
Candidates include a new Navy destroyer, the Air Force's F-22 fighter jet, and Army ground-combat vehicles, the
officials said.

Which leaves us without a new air superiority fighter.
And don't mention the F35.

15 posted on 03/23/2009 6:03:09 PM PDT by bill1952 (Power is an illusion created between those with power - and those without)
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To: saganite
Half of his general couldn’t find their ass with both hands.

More like Rummy would be fine with me, especially as hard and loud as the left screamed for him to get out.


16 posted on 03/23/2009 6:07:10 PM PDT by bill1952 (Power is an illusion created between those with power - and those without)
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To: rlmorel

Maybe you forget he opposed the surge? Enough said!


17 posted on 03/23/2009 6:07:19 PM PDT by saganite (What would Sully do?)
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To: Nachum

Chemical, Biological, and Nuclear weapons, then Øbama wants to be the pacifist, we’ll be well behind in 3 short years, a no brainer with the technology that’s around today


18 posted on 03/23/2009 6:07:29 PM PDT by Son House (Cut Taxes and Drill, It's That Simple, Einstein [ Øbama ] Vote Democrat, Live Squaller!)
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To: Nachum
The next defense secretary, he warned, would have to eliminate some costly hardware and invest in new tools for fighting insurgents.

If he considers Islamo-fascists to be the only military challenge facing the U.S. then I'm worried.

Two defense officials who were not authorized to speak publicly said Gates will announce up to a half-dozen major weapons cancellations later this month. Candidates include a new Navy destroyer, the Air Force's F-22 fighter jet, and Army ground-combat vehicles, the offi cials said.

So much for the left's whining about giving our troops the best possible equipment. Anyone surprised that it was all just political posturing?

19 posted on 03/23/2009 6:14:17 PM PDT by TigersEye (Cloward-Piven Strategy)
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To: saganite

No, I didn’t forget.

Times change and situations change. It is very easy to say that in 2004 it should have been done a certain way when we have success in 2009.

You said he didn’t listen to his generals. That is an erroneous conclusion based on your perception. He NEVER refused to listen to his generals. Just because he didn’t agree with some of them doesn’t mean he didn’t listen to them.

Rumsfeld’s job as the Secretary of Defense was to make a recommendation to the President based on input from ALL of his generals, not the recommendation of one, two or three of them. He understood the nature of his job, and so did President Bush.

President Bush and Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld had valid reasons for taking the approach they did. In the end, it turned out other reasons overrode those valid reasons and Bush made the correct choice in adopting a different approach.

War is not a board you can lay the pieces out on and then execute like a Microsoft Project plan to construct a building. It is full of change and uncertainty.


20 posted on 03/23/2009 6:26:21 PM PDT by rlmorel ("The Road to Serfdom" by F.A.Hayek - Read it...today.)
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