Iraq, Pentagon spending and the Iowa Caucuses

By Lawrence J. Korb | September 29, 2007

Residents of the Hawkeye state will no doubt hear plenty of plans in the coming months about how America should deal with the mess in Iraq.

And for good reason. The mess in Iraq clearly deserves priority attention by our political leaders and foreign policy analysts.

But as we inevitably disengage from Iraq, it's essential that America evaluate not just what went wrong there but also take a broader look at America's national security requirements and whether the Pentagon budget is sufficient to protect America.

Contrary to the common (and of ten unquestioned) assumption, spending more money doesn't necessarily buy us more security.

The Pentagon currently absorbs more than half of the federal government's discretionary budget ­­ at a whopping $500 billion proposed for next year surpassing the heights reached in the 1980s when I was President Reagan's assistant secretary of defense. This baseline budget doesn't even include the money spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.


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This article was originally published in Press-Citizen.com.