More Military Bases in U.S. to Be Closed

[leftchick]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=542&ncid=716&e=6&u=/ap/20050220/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/base_closings


The Pentagon (news - web sites) plans to shut down or scale back some of the 425 facilities, the first such effort to save money in 10 years. The downsizing is part of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's long-term transformation of the Cold War-era military.


The Pentagon chief argues that closing or consolidating stateside facilities could save $7 billion annually and that the money would be better spent improving fighting capabilities amid threats from terrorists.


"The department continues to maintain more military bases and facilities than are needed, consuming and diverting valuable personnel and resources," Rumsfeld recently told lawmakers.


Shrinking the domestic network of Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps bases is a certain source of savings. It also is a high-stakes political fight because it affects local economies in congressional districts.



... well we do have at least 14 brand spanking new bases in Iraq to fill... :eyes:

[Rose Siding]

1. Those Republicans sure are weak on nat'l security

;)

[sasquatch]

2. "But Clinton shut down all the American military bases!"

I can hear this shit already :eyes:

[Ilsa]

3. Uh, why don't they shut down some of those foreign bases?

Other nations are tired of our militaristic presence on their soil. Of course, this won't happen because W* feels a need to throw the weight of the US around to show the world that we are the dominating power.

[Blue to the bone]

23. Unfortunately, they plan the exact opposite......

......move the forces closer to where the oil...uhh, strike that...terrorists are.

[Chipper Chat]

4. Outsourcing national security. How clever.

Rummy's corporate buddies drool over prime real-estate and how they can garner even more millions to refurbish their condos in Aspen. Dumbfuckin American public. So when we have no US bases left, how long will it take to get planes here from Germany, Japan, or Iraq to respond to a crisis?

[MisterP]

15. we'll invite the Franks to guard the Gulf of Mexico, the Saxons to

garrison Montana, the Burgundians and Alemanni to guard the Great Lakes area, and the Visigoths will get nominal control of the lower Mississippi.

[Chipper Chat]

19. You forgot the Sardinian Swordsmen

to guard our airports from an invading army of foreign teenage gays.

[WMliberal]

5. and reopened in Iraq.

They're not closing, just relocating. A fun little trick the Pentagon does to make it look like they're downsizing and saving money. In reality, they're just shifting the money around. Good ol' Enron accounting.

[flygal]

6. Gee, how are they gonna blame this on Clinton

"well Clinton demolished our military" "you know Clinton cut our military in half"...

[Kolesar]

7. They want to close the AF Reserve base in my Union/Democrat home

Youngstown. Former home.

[Blue to the bone]

24. Any bets most of the closings will be recommended for Blue States?

I thought not.

[Kolesar]

25. Suck up Dem Mayor McKelvey of Youngstown endorsed Bush

And he still is going to get the shaft when they close the AF Reserve base.

[MaineDem]

26. We're sweating 2 closings in Maine

Our "moderate" GOP Senators probably won't help either.

[Blue to the bone]

30. What's next, firehouses? Oh forgot.........

.....he's already doing that.

[teryang]

8. let's spend the entire budget overseas

that way the balance of payments deficits gets worse while we damage the local domestic economies affected by this.

And when we get the theater war we have been spoiling for, we can spend more money on contractors refurbishing and reopening bases that we already closed so that we could establish unsustainable bases in central Asia.

The Pentagon is trying to save money. That's a laugher.

[caledesi]

9. Anyone hear whether they plan to close the Newport Naval Base?

Newport, RI

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

10. So Repubs let these bases get closed in 07 and again Dems will

get blamed.

[alfredo]

11. Let's see how many are in blue states and

how many are in Red states.

[LinuxInsurgent]

12. closing military bases here...opening them up in Baghdad

Remember the Kerry "firehouses" quote?

Anyway...i thought it was the department of defense? /sarcasm off

It seems these days...our armed forces are EVERYWHERE BUT defending the homeland...

Let's call it the Department of Imperial Affairs...that would be more honest.

[Zorro]

13. I agree in general with the BRAC

Base infrastructure maintenance is expensive, and reducing or consolidating the number of bases ultimately eliminates those costs. The appointment of an allegedly non-partisan committee to review the base closure list is the chosen mechanism to at least minimize political influence, and seems to be the fairest way to go. I was disappointed that Clinton insinuated himself in the last round to harvest some political capital, which undermined this approach.

However, there is an intellectual capital investment associated with some of these bases that is hard to accurately assess; by that, I mean there are significant numbers of civilians and contractors whose wealth of experience is lost when a base is closed or consolidated because of their reluctance to relocate.

I'm quite interested in seeing whether some of the bases supposedly "on the list" (particularly LAAFB) will make it across this hurdle; shutting it down will have a significant impact on the southern California aerospace industry and its installed contractor base. If politics are going to be factored in, it will be interesting to see how much influence "the Governator" will have on the process.

[TexasLawyer]

14. "Troops returning from Europe.."

"Rumsfeld has estimated that extra base capacity is at nearly 25 percent. But Republican lawmakers said the secretary recently told them that the cuts will not be as deep, in part because the military needs a home for 70,000 troops returning from Europe. "

Right....And Rumsfeld also told Republican lawmakers that they soon will each hold full title to the Brooklyn Bridge. Criminy! The "troops returning from Europe" will be in the US for a week or two, then they'll be headed off to the Middle East to fight in the expanded war we're planning. I'm betting that the European returnees won't be taking up much room in American military bases.

Either that, or the returnees from Europe are the guys at the Landstull facility, with injuries so devastating that they will not be occupying the bases either.

[deadparrot]

16. See, told ya!!! Democrats hate the mil....oh, wait.

[lebkuchen]

17. How do we know James Guckert isn't a terrorist?

?

[sweetladybug]

18. Face it people, we don't need any Military Bases here in the

good ol USA because most of our military is in Iraq. The military keep rotating our soldiers back and forth from a short leave at their homes back to Iraq. So why do we need military bases here? Of course these bases closings will be the bad, unpatriot, unreligious Democrats fault.

[daleo]

20. Bush still needs campaign photo-ops.

U.S. bases are still good for that, so they won't all go away. If Bush can't get an amendment change for a third term then it will be Jebula who will need the photo ops. So bases will still by useful for the BFEE.

[LynnTheDem]

21. 3 year waiting list Ft Hood for housing; shall we soldier families sleep

on the street?

Oh wait that's right...bush & the rightwingnuts DON'T CARE about our soldiers or their families.

[Az_lefty]

22. I thought we were at War?

Oh thats right, we're running out of troops so we don't need all those bases.

[napi21]

27. Wasn't closing bases the big criticism of Clinton?

I thought Cheney and Rummy loudly complained that our military was in sad shape because Clinton closed so many bases and downsized them.

[davepc]

29. Funny thing was Clinton was following Bush Sr. downsizing plan!

[Skwmom]

28. Close them down in the U.S., open them up in Iraq. e/o/m