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 ...
The List, ping
They could have a yard sale. One man’s junk is another man’s pleasure...
well, there goes high tech companies development of new military toys.
Yeah, VISTA darn near killed every one's PC's
What? Not THAT Gates?
Never mind....
There was also the Comanche helicopter. Typical MSM diligence.
Bush appointed Gates because he was the consumate DC politician.
I miss Rummy!
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?
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.
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.
Rummy didn’t listen to his Generals. We’re well rid of him.
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
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.
Which leaves us without a new air superiority fighter.
And don't mention the F35.
More like Rummy would be fine with me, especially as hard and loud as the left screamed for him to get out.
Maybe you forget he opposed the surge? Enough said!
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
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?
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.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.