Tag: defense spending

Pentagon Resists Budget Cuts – Without Even Knowing How Much it Spends

THE GUARDIAN 01/23/13 By Michael Shank GOP hawks who defend the US military’s budget from Chuck Hagel’s charge of ‘bloated’ must account for why it isn’t audited No matter how much Congress softens the sequestration’s austerity footprint, everyone in government will have to nip-and-tuck in order to balance budgets. And […]

Want to Cut Big Government Abuses? Start with Defence Contracting

THE GUARDIAN 08/06/11 By Michael Shank We have the evidence: the hardpressed US taxpayer is being fleeced by profiteering contractors and corrupt military personnel This past week, as US Congress quacked its way through the debt-ceiling quagmire, a seemingly non-germane offshore issue surfaced vis-a-vis Iraq. The connection between the two […]

The Costly Errors of America’s Wars

THE GUARDIAN 07/25/11 By Michael Shank After ten years, $4tn and thousands of lives, the US needs an exit from the depressing impasse of its militarised foreign policy This month, as the Pentagon and the CIA countenance a changing of the guard – welcoming Defence Secretary Leon Panetta and CIA […]

A Whole, Different View

THE HILL 09/30/08 By Michael Shank and U.S. Representative Danny Davis (D-Ill.) In forming the foundation of our country’s defense strategy, George Washington tilted the tenor of this town in a specific direction, noting that, “to be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.” […]