At the same time, Gates has been dropping hints that he could stick around even longer....
I, myself, personally, readers, just can't take the deceptive headlines and outright BS brought forth by my morning newspaper anymore.
I'm not spewing anger today; I am just feeling very, very sad that my fellow citizens of the region arise to find this as their flagging (in more ways than one) flagship for a newspaper.
His press secretary, Geoff Morrell, tried to tamp down speculation yesterday that the Pentagon chief is close to calling it quits.
"Speculation," huh?
That is what is posing as "news" in your "newspaper," America.
Not FACTS but WHAT IFS!
Meanwhile the WAR AGENDA and its PROMOTERS ROLL RIGHT ALONG!
Enjoy the DOG and PONY SHOW as provided by the AmeriKan press and Boston Globe:
"Gates announces major cuts in military spending; Joint Forces Command to be closed" by Anne Gearan, Associated Press | August 10, 2010
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Robert Gates said yesterday that tough economic times require that he shut a major command that employs some 5,000 people around Norfolk, Va., and begin to eliminate other jobs throughout the military.
The announcement was the first major step by Gates to find $100 billion in savings in the next five years. Gates says that money is needed elsewhere within the Defense Department to repair a force ravaged by years of war and to prepare troops for the next fight.
The NEXT FIGHT?
So WHERE WOULD THAT BE, Bob, IRAN?!!!!
And if it is MONEY NEEDED ELSEWHERE it REALLY ISN'T SAVINGS, is it?
I LOVE OPENING with WHOPPER LIES and DECEPTIONS in my MORNING NEWSPAPER, don't you?
The plan prompted swift political pushback from lawmakers fearful that jobs would be lost in their districts....
And FEARFUL that the CAMPAIGN KICKBACKS, 'er, contributions, will be HALTED!!
The plan Gates outlined was similar to one suggested last month by the Defense Business Board, a panel of company executives who advise the Pentagon....
So the WAR-PROFITEERING LOOTERS are DIRECTING the Pentagon?
What a REAL SURPRISE there!!!
And I wouldn't get your britches all in a bunch, general.
With a NEW WAR to FIGHT there will be plenty of "job and promotion opportunities."
That's what makes this next article so distasteful.
"Top brass on edge as defense secretary prepares to make cuts" by Craig Whitlock, Washington Post | August 15, 2010
WASHINGTON — Of all the spending cuts and budget battles the Pentagon is confronting, none is causing more angst than Defense Secretary Robert Gates’s vow to start getting rid of generals and admirals.
By almost any measure, the military is a more top-heavy institution than it has been for decades. Today, there are 40 four-star generals and admirals, one more than in 1971, during the Vietnam War, even though the number of active-duty troops has shrunk by almost half.
Hey, we are "at war."
The number of active-duty generals and admirals of all ranks has increased by about 13 percent since 1996. It is, as Gates puts it, “brass creep.’’
But the defense secretary’s pledge last week to cut about 5 percent of the brass is nothing short of seismic for many at the Pentagon. The cuts would be the largest in the upper ranks since a similar squeeze at the end of the Cold War, when the collapse of the Soviet Union prompted the military to downsize.
Yeah, and THEN IRAQ CAME UP and there NEVER WAS a "peace" dividend.
Funny how things like that work out, huh?
Gates has said he also wants to make similar trims in the civilian leadership, pointing out that the number of people assigned to his office has grown by nearly 1,000 over the past decade.
“Our headquarters and support bureaucracies, military and civilian alike, have swelled to cumbersome and top-heavy proportion,’’ Gates said in a speech last week to the Marines’ Memorial Association in San Francisco, adding that the top layers have “grown accustomed to operating with little consideration to cost.’’
Because CONGRESS ALWAYS CUTS a CHECK for COST OVERRUNS and CORRUPTION!
Related:
"Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned lawmakers this week that unless the measure is enacted into law before Congress leaves for its August recess, the Pentagon could have to furlough thousands of employees."
So Gates is FULL of.... ?!!!! They got their $37 billion or whatever shake down they were seeking as they do always.
When RUBBER HITS the ROAD the WARS WILL ALWAYS be FULLY-FUNDED -- as well as the LOOTING CONTRACTORS left behind!
Related: Occupation Iraq: War Looters Still Working
As long as the wars continue (and even beyond; switching from assassins to a spying agency is really easy once in-country -- especially when both organizations carry out the same activities and work closely together).
The push has caused some squealing at the Pentagon, as one- and two-star generals and admirals privately fret that they could be forced to retire early. Up-and-coming colonels and captains worry that fewer plum posts will be available.
Don't worry; they got a war on the front-burner that they are ready to unveil after the next false-flag terror attack.
Gates has acknowledged that he faces stiff resistance. “Every flag officer will think I’m after him or her,’’ he told reporters in May, when he first suggested that the brass might need to go on a diet. “But we have to be willing to look at everything.’’
Wasn't Hitler famous for ranting about obese generals costing him wars?
Feels like 1941 all over again, doesn't it?
Invading Russia destroyed Hitler's Reich, and an Usraeli attack on Iran will drop theirs like a free-falling Trade Center tower on 9/11.
**************
Among the likely targets are officers in Europe. US military and NATO forces in Europe are jointly led by a four-star commander. In a vestige of World War II, however, the Army, Navy and Air Force have four-star officers overseeing their individual forces in Europe, as well.
“The ranks of the major commands there have remained intact since the Cold War,’’ said General James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“So is that appropriate? Should we go back and adjust it? Not only the rank structure, but the size of the headquarters and what they do.’’
Analysts said the brass squeeze will not result in significant savings.
Did I say dog and pony show?
Time out so the arena floor can be cleared.
Little mound of smelly WaPo something out there.
Terminating a single general’s billet might save about $200,000 a year in salary and benefits, barely a rounding error in the Pentagon’s base budget this year of $537 billion.
And that is NOT INCLUDING the WAR SPENDING or all the secret operations spending (or increased black funding from running the illegal drug trade).
But they said the effort is necessary as part of Gates’s broader drive to stave off budget-cutting lawmakers who argue that defense spending should no longer be exempt as Congress grapples with record deficits.
Who is talking that?
First I've read or seen of it.
--more--"
They must mean all the raging antiwar, liberal New England Democrats, right?
"GE’s promise of jobs drives engine debate; Economic issues shape defense plan" by Matt Viser, Globe Staff | July 6, 2010
In Lynn, about 400
Those are among the 4,000 jobs that GE is promising to pepper around the country as part of its campaign to persuade Congress to spend $485 million this year developing a backup jet engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
Related: Guns or Butter?
I think the AmeriKan government has made their choice pretty clear.
Also see: Israel to purchase 20 Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets
Is it any surprise that Congress is funding it?
Never mind that President Obama and the Pentagon have said one engine program for the future jet is enough, and that awarding a second engine program to GE would be a waste of taxpayer money.
Need I type a word?
Massachusetts would gain the second-highest number of jobs under GE’s promise, which has helped persuade most of the state’s congressional members, including Senator John F. Kerry, to support the legislation.
Related: MSM Xmas Gifts: War Profiteers
Meet Your Antiwar New England Liberals
Pelosi Protested at Shea-Porter Promo
I can not tell you how disappointed I am.
Debate over the engine issue demonstrates the potency of employment concerns in defense industry spending, and how Pentagon suppliers are able to tap into economic worries in their quest for contracts....
Yeah, the same system that is looting and killing you is going to save you.
The promise of 433 jobs figure is lower than the company’s earlier projection that between 500 and 1,000 jobs would be saved or maintained under the F-35 engine program.
It is called SHOVELING.... !
“The jobs numbers game is one that is easily manipulated by defense companies to their advantage,’’ said Laura Peterson, national security analyst at Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan budget watchdog group. “It’s a number that lawmakers and the public should look at with a very gimlet eye.’’
But Rick Kennedy, spokesman for GE Aviation in Evendale, Ohio, said organizations and analysts who question GE’s jobs estimates do not know what they are talking about....
Sig Heil!
In a stark illustration of the importance of jobs in the debate, two congressmen from western Massachusetts, Representative John Olver, an Amherst Democrat, and Richard Neal, a Springfield Democrat, broke with the rest of the delegation and voted to strip funding for the second F-35 engine....
Oh, my piece of puke actually did the right thing there?
Yeah, word around here is he isn't retiring after all.
I will have to look more closely at his opponents and see where they stand on Israel. It's Israel, the wars, and the economy this time out.
--more--"
