Defense Budget: Ripe for Reductions

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/12/12-6

Defense Budget: Ripe for Reductions
by Miriam Pemberton
Published on Wednesday, December 12, 2012 by Other Words

Here we are on brink of a major historical moment. We're beginning to wind down the longest period of war in our history. And we're about to turn around a 13-year-long surge in Pentagon spending.

It's not just longtime advocates for such changes like me who think so. William Lynn, a former Deputy Secretary of Defense who has lobbied for the military contractor Raytheon, likens this moment to the years right after World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and the Cold War. In a recent speech at the U.S. Naval Institute, he suggested that big cuts to the military budget are in the cards.

But this isn't the precipice that's consuming Washington right now. Instead, the so-called "fiscal cliff," the package of tax increases and spending cuts that will begin in January unless Congress agrees on a way to stop them, is the big buzzword.

~snip~

And we can afford to do that because, we're not broke. Our budget priorities just need fixing. In a recent report, my Institute for Policy Studies colleagues and I propose a framework for doing so. Our proposal includes $198 billion in yearly military cuts — from spending on things like wars we shouldn't fight and weapon systems and overseas bases we don't need.