Secretary of Defense, Dr. Robert Gates is the only one in history to have been asked to remain by the Presidents' sucessor. I have to say overall my opinion of Sec. Gates has been favorable. With his latest endeavor I may have to even upgrade my level of respect for his intelligence.
So here's my view of the story. Gates, on his own, offerd to cut 100 billion from his budget. No questions asked. No one demanding cuts. He indicates if the rest of us are cutting, the DOD would do their part. He was aware of weapon systems and other things they no longer needed. Impressive right? Saves everyone the trouble of even looking at his budget. He has already cut it!
Now, lets consider this generous offer. We have been spending approximately 100 billion a year for the Iraq war that has now ended. Well, almost. we will pull our last 50k in advisors sometime soon. My question now becomes, if we aren't spending 100 billion on the war and you are giving us back 100 billion of your budget, what exactly are you giving us??? Exactly what waste, fraud, abuse and redundancy have you cut? You are only giving us back the Iraq War budget that you no longer need anyway. Now I don't mean to sound completely cynical but come on. Am I missing something in this picture? Shouldn't he be able to cut out at least 150 billion since he doesn't have the Iraq budget to worry about?
And while I'm on the DOD.... One quarter of our youth are obese and can't join the military???? Well duh, what better place for an obese young person than boot camp? Especially with our unemplyment numbers.