Two points SASless
- The obsession in many western market democracies about lowering taxes - most especially in the US - has a direct impact on how much governments can spend on defence. That 4% of GNP mirrors a decline in the share of GNP the government as a whole raises. If a candidate for office says "I will raise your taxes to fund the military" his opponent will run campaign ads the following day with the words "I will raise your taxes - candidate Bloggs". God knows I see "raise your taxes" ads every election on the Buffalo, NY stations we get here in Ontario. The deficit created by the War on Terror will eat into that same government revenue through debt service and will be accentuated by the falling US$. US taxpayers aren't going to buy War Bonds the way they did in WW2.
- Second, the promise by the Executive to increase the strength of the US Armed Forces is puzzling given the regular articles in US publications on the difficulty recruiting personnel are having reaching targets, pushing forward uneducated, unfit or otherwise unsuitable candidates and having severe personal and career consequences when these are found out. Rather than pushing their children to join the military as an honourable career many families are now discouraging it since no matter what branch you join there is a chance of deployment, and of retention in theatre beyond your scheduled commitment.
Personally I think the US military should be welcoming South Korea's planned withdrawal home from Iraq and should tell them to find other friends to defend their border to release most of
the 29,500 troops in theatre now rather than
gradually as planned (although the $700m+ SK pays is probably very useful funding). I also think the "coalition" in Iraq should be abandoned in favour of more US forces - everyone knows who's running the show and to have a couple of hundred troops from Poland or El Salvador is needless - better to have them in Afghanistan under NATO command and reduce US content in Afghanistan to the minimum.