Audio: Bush says he wants to expand the Army and Marines
Allahpundit
A quickie from WaPo’s interview with him earlier today. Good to hear, but suddenly discovering that we need more manpower three and three-quarters years after the invasion calls to mind a different snatch of audio.
As for Iraq itself, to surge or not to surge? WaPo claims the Joint Chiefs are unanimously against the idea, which leaves them improbably aligned with the left and us aligned with the Kossacks’ favorite retired generals, Zinni and Batiste. The Pentagon now acknowledges that Sadr’s boys are the biggest threat facing the country, more so even than AQ, but the question is whether they’ll come out to play if we send another 30,000 troops to engage them. ...
Bush to Expand Size of Military
Jay at Stop the ACLU
All those cheering the Baker report will be quite disappointed with this development. I think this is a very wise decision to increase the overall size of the military. Bush says he hasn’t decided what we are doing in Iraq, that this is the general overall military that will expand in size. The war on terror will be a long one and we will need a larger military for victory. Iraq is a war, yet it is only a battle in the full war on terror. Anything less than victory there will not help in the long war against terror.
Here is the audio of the Washington Post interview.
Via Washington Post:
President Bush said today that he plans to expand the size of the U.S. military to meet the challenges of a long-term global war against terrorists, a response to warnings that sustained deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan have stretched the armed forces to near the breaking point.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Bush said he has instructed newly sworn-in Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates to report back to him with a plan to increase ground forces. The president gave no estimates about how many troops may be added but indicated that he agreed with suggestions in the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill that the current military is stretched too thin to cope with the demands placed on it.
“I’m inclined to believe that we do need to increase our troops — the Army, the Marines,” Bush said in the Oval Office session. “And I talked about this to Secretary Gates and he is going to spend some time talking to the folks in the building, come back with a recommendation to me about how to proceed forward on this idea.”
The president’s decision comes at a time when he is rethinking his strategy in Iraq and considering, among other options, a short-term surge in troop levels to try to secure violence-torn Baghdad. The Joint Chiefs of Staff are resisting the idea during internal debates in part out of the conviction that it will further strain already-pressed forces. ...
The Size Of Our Military
Dan Riehl
I'm bringing this post back to the top because of this news. We are coming off a Clinton era that saw the lowest defense spending as a percent of GDP in our history.
President Bush said today that he plans to expand the size of the U.S. military to meet the challenges of a long-term global war against terrorists, a response to warnings that sustained deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan have stretched the armed forces to near the breaking point.
Instapundit has a post up regarding the size of our military. There are multiple links to explore. Here are two links to give you some additional perspective.
Currently, the US ranks 47th in terms of the percent of GDP countries spend on the military. However, that still represents 37% of the world total.
But the really damning numbers are here. Scroll down for different measures. You can also click on the graph above to enlarge, or see it at the link.
During the Clinton years military spending dropped over ten percent in terms of discretionary spending and it hasn't come back. Even worse, we spent the lowest percent of GDP in our history under Clinton and that hasn't come back up completely, either.
Look at the Carter years versus the Reagan era with the transition eventually to Clinton. We won't be able to fight a global war against terrorism if that number doesn't continue to rise. And I don't foresee the incoming Congress being helpful in that cause. ...
