Posted on 02/07/2013 7:41:48 PM PST by Olog-hai
The United States is at risk of becoming a second-rate power if automatic budget cuts go into effect, plunging the U.S. armed forces into the most significant readiness crisis they’ve faced in more than a decade, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned Thursday.
Panetta, who is retiring soon from his post, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that if the reductions are allowed to stand he would have to throw the country’s national defense strategy “out the window.” But Panetta also assured lawmakers the Pentagon would take the steps necessary to deal with possible threats in the Persian Gulf region after he approved the Navy's request to halve its aircraft carrier presence in the area.
Anticipating the Defense Department will have less money to spend, Panetta said the Pentagon has already imposed a freeze on hiring and cut back on maintenance at bases and facilities. Those moves are reversible, he said, as long as Congress acts quickly to head off the cuts, known as sequestration, and approves a 2013 military budget. …
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We want to be the "best customer" of every third-world tinpot dictator in existence.
Oh, having sodomites in the barracks and women in combat was going to make us first-rate!
The US is already a THIRD rate power, thanks to Obama.
Too late, Leon.
this is the only possible result when a country is run by first rate A-holes.
yeah, huh
Those early morning SecDef briefings must be pretty nerve-racking for a liberal. I don't blame him from getting out of ground zero territory.
/johnny
United States Military Spending 2012 - $711 Billion
If all cuts went into affect $100 Billion/$10 Billion per year over 10 years.
United States Military Spending 2013 - $701 Billion
Next five highest military budgets by country:
China $143 Billion
Russia $71.9 Billion
UK $62.7 Billion
France $62.5 Billion
Japan $59.3 Billion
I don't think we are in danger of becoming a "second rate" military power anytime soon....
FU LP.
You turned the military over to perverts and your holier than thou Boss the imperial President did this to get his debt extended through the election. Maybe you should have told him not to do this in 2011 when he praised the bill and signed it.
You can go to hell!
Wasn’t that their plan?
At risk?
Didn’t Clintons cleaning lady, Maddy Albright, suggest that it just wasn’t fair that we were the Superpower of the World?
“I don’t think we are in danger of becoming a “second rate” military power anytime soon....”
You are in error. You cannot merely compare dollar amounts to determine relative power. For one thing, we actually pay our military personnel a decent salary...unlike the other countries mentioned except England...which is a 4th rate country now because of its downsizing of its military.
The Republicans in Congress were fools to agree to the sequester deal in 2011. They should have NEVER had DoD to absorb 50% of the cut. Any cuts should be across the board.
Cuts are necessary for the long term health of the country, but these draconian cuts to Defense are a serious short term danger that could harm us permanently.
Peacenicks and Fiscal Extremists both pose a danger to this country. The peaceniks just want to destroy the military because the oppose “military action.” The Fiscal extremists just want to cut spending, regardless of the consequences. I consider both to be enemies of the people.
Is he for it or against it? I suspect most of the White House is for it.
To hell with Second Rate Power. Let’s just jump straight to Third Rate Power. Think of the extra money we’d free up for Obama to buy votes and set himself up as Dictator for Life.
Elect second-rate representatives - become a second-rate power.
Obama has placed muslim terrorists in control of Egypt and Libya and soon, Syria. He’s totally promised a Muslim war against Isreal. We had Russia send nuke subs into our coast line in the Gulf and Russia invaded Japan’s air space with war jets. China has invaded Japan’s water terrority with war ships.
In the meantime, Obama is cutting the US miltary power by spreading us thin into Africa, Iraq, Afghanistan, and cutting the DOD budget. He’s left the borders wide open knowing Al Quada is built up in central and South America. He’s open a flood of immigration for jihadists from terrorist states. He’s been caught arming the cartels in Mexico (who are associated with muslim jihadists).
He’s got us and our allies set for WWIII...to be seriously harmed. As Obama’s vengeful, jealous black racist “Christian Reverend” would say...”America’s chickens are coming home to roost.” Massive corruption, invasion, systematic Marxist cultural cleansing and orchestrated, self destructive immorality and stupidity is never a great thing for a people. Add to that a deeply divided and demoralized nation (orchestrated by the community organizer in chief) suffering serious natural disaters and drought. Did I mention a boat load of TREASON or that our soldiers are killing themselves?
This is so pathetic. This is the kind of rhetoric we hear from a small city police chief when the city manager threatens to downsize his department by one man. I say go ahead and cut. Call his bluff. Pardon my language, but this man is a pussy.
Panetta is a radical. He’s jumping ship now that his Dear Reader has organized WWIII against the demoralized US and our allies. Before Obama, he was on the team that aided Clinton to crash the economy/middle class with a fake, inflated real estate market via crooked loans.
What he is doing is giving an excuse for Obama when our weakened and demoralized military fails in the upcoming, orchestrated when WWIII. Obama can blame it on those evil Republicans who cut the budget.
And people are stupid enough not to notice that he empowered all our enemies and purposely demoralized and weakened our military by converting them into peace corp slaves to empower Muslims.
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