Cuts could make USA a second-rate power, Panetta warns [View all]

[unhappycamper]

http://www.freep.com/usatoday/article/1884447?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|p



Defense Secretary Leon Panetta speaks to reporters on Jan. 24 at the Pentagon.

Cuts could make USA a second-rate power, Panetta warns
by Tom Vanden Brook
6:02 PM, February 1, 2013

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned Friday the United States would become a "second-rate power" if Congress and the White House fail to reach a budget deal that would avoid an extra $500 billion in military budget cuts over the next 10 years.

The Army would be forced to slash its ranks by an additional 100,000 soldiers over 10 years if the process called sequestration went into effect, Panetta said in an interview with USA TODAY. That reduction would be in addition to the 80,000 soldiers it plans to shed over the next five years to a force of about 490,000. The Marine Corps will drop about 20,000 troops under the current plan, which calls on the Pentagon to reduce spending by $487 billion over the next decade.

Congress has until March 1 to reach a deal to stop the cuts, which were created in a summer 2011 deal between Congress and President Obama to raise the nation's debt ceiling.

"We are the world's most powerful military, and we use that to promote peace and stability in the world," Panetta said. "It would be a shameful act of irresponsibility if Congress just stood to the side and let sequester take place. It would turn America from a first-rate power into a second-rate power."



unhappycamper comment: If a 10% budget cut puts our military into a "second-rate power" status, perhaps we should go for a 20% cut and lose all the expensive (non-working) toys. Get out of Afghanistan, reduce nukes, cut the military head count, and maybe stop being the world's self-appointed policeman. And stop droning people.