Newspaper Article

Pentagon should put money where its mouth is

BENJAMIN H. FRIEDMAN AND CAITLIN TALMADGE

2006

Overview

If the QDR took its own analysis of threats seriously, it would reduce the Navy and Air Force's budgets to fund the Army and Marines. Ground forces fight insurgencies and stabilize broken states like Bosnia and Haiti. If the United States ever occupied Iran, North Korea or Pakistan, these would be the forces needed to keep order. The QDR does bless the Army's decision to increase the number of its combat brigades from 33 to 42, but this is sleight of hand. The new brigades take soldiers from the old ones, meaning the same forces are simply spread into more units. The QDR preserves a military built to fight China or Russia, not the wars we are fighting. News reports indicate that if Pentagon civilians had their druthers, the QDR would have been more ambitious. It appears that the services joined forces and, with congressional help, preserved their budget slices and favorite weapons. The QDR is less a failure of intent than a failure of power.

• Publisher: Tribune Publishing Company, LLC