US to slash budget outlay of State Department, Pentagon
Wednesday, 4 January 2012
Fazle Rashid
NEW YORK, Jan 03: Hit hard by budget crunch, the United States is going to slash budget outlay of its two most crucial foreign policy wings -- the State Department and the Pentagon. The Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said the United States will fail to meet its 21st century needs. The defence secretary of the mightiest nation of the world said the US cannot fight two wars at a time. The shift in doctrine has been driven by fiscal reality.
He said the military will be strong enough to fight one major war and act as spoil in another, the New York Times (NYT) in a front page report said today. The US military will be more active now in providing disaster relief and enforcing a flight zone as it did in Libya.
The potential areas that will face cuts are nuclear arsenal, warships, combat aircraft salaries, retirement and health benefits. With war over in Iraq and one in Afghanistan winding down, Penetta is weighing how significantly to reduce the number of American ground forces. The White House and Pentagon have agreed to a cut of $450 million over the next decade. The US's current budget is close to $500 billion annually.
The US Defence Secretary said cuts in defence budget will be ruinous to the national security. The Republicans and the Democrats say that it would be painful but manageable. They maintain that there were deepers cuts after the Cold war and wars in Korea and Vietnam. Gordon Adams who oversaw military budget in the White House under Clinton Administration said the US army will still be the most dominant force in the world.
What is paradoxical is that the United States have spent billions of dollars fighting others' war and none to secure its own territory from foreign afression. The God has endowed it with natural protection. No one will ever venture to attack the mighty US by crossing the Atlantic and the Pacific. And one in the South like Canada and Mexico will ever dream of any such venture.
Meanwhile, Iran has launched its first wide-range missile during a naval exercise in the Gulf and Strait of Hormuz in clear defiance of western threats of more stringent economic sanctions. The launching of missile Ghader ground-to-air missile was shown on Iranian TV. Missiles will be used as the country's defensive and pre-emptive powers, said an Iranian naval officer.
NEW YORK, Jan 03: Hit hard by budget crunch, the United States is going to slash budget outlay of its two most crucial foreign policy wings -- the State Department and the Pentagon. The Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said the United States will fail to meet its 21st century needs. The defence secretary of the mightiest nation of the world said the US cannot fight two wars at a time. The shift in doctrine has been driven by fiscal reality.
He said the military will be strong enough to fight one major war and act as spoil in another, the New York Times (NYT) in a front page report said today. The US military will be more active now in providing disaster relief and enforcing a flight zone as it did in Libya.
The potential areas that will face cuts are nuclear arsenal, warships, combat aircraft salaries, retirement and health benefits. With war over in Iraq and one in Afghanistan winding down, Penetta is weighing how significantly to reduce the number of American ground forces. The White House and Pentagon have agreed to a cut of $450 million over the next decade. The US's current budget is close to $500 billion annually.
The US Defence Secretary said cuts in defence budget will be ruinous to the national security. The Republicans and the Democrats say that it would be painful but manageable. They maintain that there were deepers cuts after the Cold war and wars in Korea and Vietnam. Gordon Adams who oversaw military budget in the White House under Clinton Administration said the US army will still be the most dominant force in the world.
What is paradoxical is that the United States have spent billions of dollars fighting others' war and none to secure its own territory from foreign afression. The God has endowed it with natural protection. No one will ever venture to attack the mighty US by crossing the Atlantic and the Pacific. And one in the South like Canada and Mexico will ever dream of any such venture.
Meanwhile, Iran has launched its first wide-range missile during a naval exercise in the Gulf and Strait of Hormuz in clear defiance of western threats of more stringent economic sanctions. The launching of missile Ghader ground-to-air missile was shown on Iranian TV. Missiles will be used as the country's defensive and pre-emptive powers, said an Iranian naval officer.