Peace Doesn’t Keep Itself
In his Aug. 31 speech announcing the end of “combat operations” in Iraq, President Obama argued that the military efforts the nation has made since 9/11 had “shortchanged investments in our own people and contributed to record deficits.” As Bob Woodward’s new book “Obama’s Wars” makes plain, a similar mentality pervaded the president’s Afghanistan strategy: His response to the need for a long-term American military presence was, “I am not spending a trillion dollars!”
It is encouraging to see Mr. Obama concerned about deficits and debt. But his concern with the military is largely misplaced. It is neither the true source of our fiscal woes, nor an appropriate target for indiscriminate budget-slashing in a still-dangerous world.
Continue reading the full piece from the Wall Street Journal here.
Photo credit: U.S. Air Force, Tech. Sgt. Robert Horstman
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By Arthur C. Brooks, Edwin J. Feulner, William Kristol inThe Wall Street Journal, October 5, 2010
Defense