11-02-2004, 08:11 PM
Notice I quoted Bush directly and no one from the Bush Administration nor elsewhere will deny that intel personnel and special forces units were pulled from the hunt for Bin Laden to go to Iraq. Maybe the reasoning is that Bin Laden is no longer a threat but I don't think anyone would agree with that assessment.
Kerry did in fact try on more than one occasion to cut intelligence budgets. I sincerely hope he doesn't blindly try to do the same in the future if he wins tonight.
The funny thing about budget cuts (especially on things like defense and intelligence) is that even if one is trying to trim pork or waste you will still be demonized. The National Recon Office mentioned specifically by Kerry was caught hoarding money out of their secret budget and did not notify the CIA or Congress of their surplus (to the tune of 1 to 1.7 billion according to articles I looked up). This kind of thing happens a lot in the government due to the way budget funds are allocated but this incidentally leads to a lot of waste. Anyone who worked at the Medialab on campus knows exactly what I'm talking about.
I'd like to read more on what was specifically in Kerry's budget cut bills. I think he is naive/foolish about some things (nuclear deterrence for example) but I'd like to see what he was specifically trying to cut. Bush gets criticized much the same way for budget cuts without regard for what it is exactly that he's cutting.
I think moreover many people (Bush Sr, Kerry, and Clinton especially) had a mistaken idea that after the Cold War we would have less to worry about when that couldn't be further from the truth. That doesn't necessarily mean we need to spend more money, but it means we will have to structure our armed forces and possibly our intelligence operations differently.
We are already have a next generation plan in place for the military at least, I just hope we won't get caught with our pants down between now and then.
Kerry did in fact try on more than one occasion to cut intelligence budgets. I sincerely hope he doesn't blindly try to do the same in the future if he wins tonight.
The funny thing about budget cuts (especially on things like defense and intelligence) is that even if one is trying to trim pork or waste you will still be demonized. The National Recon Office mentioned specifically by Kerry was caught hoarding money out of their secret budget and did not notify the CIA or Congress of their surplus (to the tune of 1 to 1.7 billion according to articles I looked up). This kind of thing happens a lot in the government due to the way budget funds are allocated but this incidentally leads to a lot of waste. Anyone who worked at the Medialab on campus knows exactly what I'm talking about.
I'd like to read more on what was specifically in Kerry's budget cut bills. I think he is naive/foolish about some things (nuclear deterrence for example) but I'd like to see what he was specifically trying to cut. Bush gets criticized much the same way for budget cuts without regard for what it is exactly that he's cutting.
I think moreover many people (Bush Sr, Kerry, and Clinton especially) had a mistaken idea that after the Cold War we would have less to worry about when that couldn't be further from the truth. That doesn't necessarily mean we need to spend more money, but it means we will have to structure our armed forces and possibly our intelligence operations differently.
We are already have a next generation plan in place for the military at least, I just hope we won't get caught with our pants down between now and then.
just say he won already!
