UK Defence cuts announced - 20,000 posts to go

[gaz]

BBC Article (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3912283.stm)

Times article (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1186641,00.html)

[Zebb]

I guess that means we dont have to worry about the reserves being called back up then ? :roll:

[Fee Fi Fo Fum]

ffs this is bad news! why are they cutting!!!! :bash:

[Zebb]

I know what you mean, just when you think that our armed forces couldnt be stretched any thinner they decide in fact we can afford to lose even more troops across the board, didnt they learn anything from the last bunch of cut backs ?

[BadKarma26]

In the article I was reading on CNN.COM it seemed like both the conservatives and the liberals think this is a bad idea. Whos decision is it?

[ShadowNeo]

To be honest at the moment the Tories can't really make a decent argument, or the Lib Dems, as it is pretty well known that both will cut Defence if they came to power.

The Shadow Defence Secretary has said that there would be an increase if the tories came to power, but they have not got this written down on paper, so it isn't really a viable statement.

[cut]

ffs this is bad news! why are they cutting!!!! :bash:

They are cutting numbers but increasing defence spending.

[BadKarma26]

One of the reasons I might vote for Kerry instead of Bush (my party representative) is that he promises to double the size of special operations troops. I think that in this time of primarily low intensity conflicts we need to spend LESS resources on "artillary" (which the Brits plan to give more to) and more money on Rangers and SF backed by air power.

[cut]

One of the reasons I might vote for Kerry instead of Bush (my party representative) is that he promises to double the size of special operations troops. I think that in this time of primarily low intensity conflicts we need to spend LESS resources on "artillary" (which the Brits plan to give more to) and more money on Rangers and SF backed by air power.

I got the impression that Rummy wanted that too, with all the talk about a smaller more flexible army to fight asymmetric warfare.

All I can say about this is that I hope we can change back in time if world war 3 ever happens .

[mobster]

The thing is, Kerry would pull a Clinton and not use them. Dude, read up on what Rummys been doing with SOFs. Kerry will be too damned scared to use any of our troops. Read this.
U.S. government molds ‘mobile,
agile’ military
• Appointment of army chief promotes role of Special Operations forces
BY PATRICK O’NEILL, (The Militant)

U.S. defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld has announced that a former head of Special Operations forces will serve as the new chief of the U.S. army. The appointment of retired Gen. Peter Shoomaker follows the promotion of the special forces to a key role in the military conquests of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Rumsfeld has been among the most outspoken champions of the enhanced role of the Green Berets, Delta Force, and Navy Seals in the U.S. military.

These moves are further signs that a revolution is under way in the organization of the U.S. military. They reflect the U.S. rulers’ push for more mobile, less ponderous armed forces ready to move rapidly to areas of battle as U.S. imperialism needs.

The invasion of Iraq was a victory for the approach of the defense secretary and his supporters over their critics in the government and military brass. In that assault, U.S. Gen. Thomas Franks, the commander of the operation and another Rumsfeld ally, relied heavily on air power, laser- and satellite-guided bombs, and a ground army that was numerically small in comparison with the U.S.-led forces in the 1991 Gulf War. The U.S. and British units’ rapid advance from Kuwait to northern Iraq in the face of a badly led and demoralized Iraqi army silenced those in Washington who said that the invading force was too small and lightly armed and would get bogged down.

Franks, who headed the U.S. Central Command recently and is retiring this summer, is being replaced by Lt. Gen. John Abizaid—dubbed the “Mad Arab” by his fellows in the military brass—who also played a major role in Washington’s conquest of Iraq.

Following the war, U.S. president George Bush singled out the Special Operations Command for particular praise. Shoomaker headed the command for three years from 1997. He was stationed in Korea in the mid-1970s.

U.S. forces are redeployed
In keeping with the ongoing remolding of the armed forces for more frequent and far-flung aggression, U.S. officers have begun a significant redeployment of their troops in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and the Americas on the pretext of “fighting terrorism.”

The number of U.S. soldiers stationed in Germany will fall from almost 70,000 to as few as 15,000. Most will head east to Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Rumania.

That will bring them closer to likely theaters of imperialist intervention in the Middle East, Africa, and Russia. “Why do we need a joint force to be in Germany, where there’s nothing happening?” a senior military official told the Los Angeles Times. “You have to have troops close to ports and airfields that are closer to the action.”

The total U.S. forces in Europe were reduced from 300,000 to around 100,000 in the decade following the end of the Cold War.

In addition, Washington is moving troops south from the so-called demilitarized zone dividing the Korean peninsula, which takes them out of range of north Korean artillery in case of a military conflict with Pyongyang. The Pentagon is also probing to establish new bases in Australia, Singapore, and the Philippines, in addition to Japan and south Korea, where it has tens of thousands of troops.

Up until recently, some 80 percent of the 1.4 million U.S. troops were stationed in the United States, south Korea, and Germany.

In the Middle East, the U.S. military is pulling most of its 5,000-strong force out of Saudi Arabia, while reinforcing its presence in Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and now Iraq. Further east, thousands of troops are in Afghanistan and some 1,500 have been stationed in Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic.

Meanwhile, under Washington’s Plan Colombia, U.S. forces have been deployed in a number of Andean countries in Latin America under the guise of combating the drug trade and terrorism. It’s an area of the world where the volcano of the class struggle is smoldering.
End.

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[BadKarma26]

Interesting

[mobster]

Yeah, he got a Retired Delta Force commander to come out of retirement to run the Army! Promises in election year are a dime a dozen, but look at what the Bush Admin. has done. On the BHD extras DVD, Lee Van Arsdale (SFOD-D ret.) even says that they (TF Ranger) were PISSED when Clinton made them leave after the battle of the MOG. I'm telling you, Kerry is popular with housewives and mothers who are scared for their little babies not to get huwt. Bush knows this is a war on terror, that's why he gave Rumsfeld the green light to do anything with SOF. Hell even the leader of TF121 is a former SEAL.