251 lines
6.7 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
251 lines
6.7 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
news
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worldnews
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us-politics
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8287262
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-----
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# US Defence Secretary faults Congress for weakening military
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## Robert Gates, the US Defence Secretary, has accused Congress of dumping a
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"crisis on my doorstep" by holding the Pentagon to last year's spending
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levels,creating a potential $23 billion gap that could weaken a wartime
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military.
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![U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates][1]
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U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates warned of emergency cuts if the
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Pentagon is forced to live within last year's means when it had planned for
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more Photo: REUTERS
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10:55PM GMT 27 Jan 2011
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"That's how you hollow out a military," Mr Gates said Thursday.
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Mr Gates said it looks increasingly likely that Congress will not act on the
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Pentagon's 2011 budget request, even as lawmakers argue over his proposal to
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slow the rate of increase in defense spending next year and freeze it by 2015.
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The opposition is bipartisan - from Republicans who oppose any reductions and
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Democrats along with some Republicans backed by the Tea Party who say Gates
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isn't cutting enough.
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Rhetoric on all sides ignores "the real world that I live in," Mr Gates said.
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He warned of emergency cuts if the Pentagon is forced to live within last
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year's means when it had planned for more.
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## Related Articles
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* [Obama calls for unity to seize 'Sputnik moment'][2]
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25 Jan 2011
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Congress has not acted on the $549 billion request for the budget year that
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began on October 1. It instead passed a stop-gap government spending measure
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last fall, keeping budgets at the previous year's levels. For the Pentagon,
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that means a budget of about $526 billion, officials say, not counting war
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funding.
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Mr Gates said the separate request for spending on wars will fall to about
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$120 billion for 2012 from about $159 billion this year, reflecting the
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planned final troop withdrawal from Iraq.
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But the Pentagon will face a money pinch that "could have an impact on
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training across the entire force," and in other areas, Mr Gates said.
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"It's one thing to talk about 2012 and then to express concerns about
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something that may or may not happen in four or five years," he said. "But I
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have a crisis on my doorstep. And I want them to deal with the crisis on my
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doorstep before we start arguing about the levels (of spending) in 2012."
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The debate over defense spending next year and beyond was on full display
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Wednesday at a House Armed Services Committee hearing, where Republicans posed
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tough questions about the risks of slashing too deep and shortchanging U.S.
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forces.
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If Mr Gates retires this summer, as many believe likely, he will have been one
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of the longest-serving defense secretaries since the post was created in 1947.
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He started in December 2006, succeeding Donald H. Rumsfeld, who resigned amid
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heavy criticism over the Iraq war.
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Mr Gates has fashioned himself into a guardian of the [US][3] military's
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global pre-eminence, but he also has cautioned that military muscle can be an
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illusion.
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"Possessing the ability to annihilate other militaries is no guarantee we can
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achieve our strategic goals," he told Army officers in May.
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In that same vein, he launched his current effort to preserve military
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strength while accepting that the nation's grim financial condition .
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He demanded that the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps find $100 billion
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in budget savings over the coming five years, while allowing them to keep most
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of that savings for other needs.
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The military services responded with investments in a modernized fleet of Army
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tanks, more strike and surveillance drone aircraft for the Navy and Air Force,
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and more missile interceptors for use in an expanded missile defense system in
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Europe.
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[X][4] Share & bookmark
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* Share: [Share][4] [ ][6] [ ][7]
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[Tweet][8]
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/us-politics/8287262/US-Defence-
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Secretary-faults-Congress-for-weakening-military.html
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Telegraph
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## [US Politics][9]
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* ### [News »][10]
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* ### [World News »][11]
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* ### [North America »][12]
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* ### [USA »][3]
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In news
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are pictured in
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Hyannisport, Massachusetts in this photograph taken in July 1960][15] ][16]
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[![Barack Obama's State of the Union speech][21] ][22]
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[X][4] Share & bookmark
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[What are these?][5]
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Share:
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* [ ][4]
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* [ ][6]
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* [ ][7]
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* [Tweet][8]
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* Advertisement
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![][23]
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[![Follow The Telegraph on social media][24]][25]
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[Follow The Telegraph on Social Media »][25]
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