by Mary Ann McGivern
This past Sunday, the New York Times published a long editorial called "A Pentagon the Country Can Afford."
It's a very practical look at cuts in troop numbers, civilian attrition, increase in health care premiums, and base closings. Then there are the cold-war systems: fighter airplanes for instance, imagined for fighting MIGs; the aircraft carriers that deliver fighter planes; nuclear attack submarines and missiles -- not to mention the nuclear weapons themselves.
It is actually not difficult to generate $1.2 trillion in military cuts that pose no threat to the defense of the nation.
What we really need to talk about, though, is what makes us secure. Is it nuclear weapons and fighter planes, a fighting force? What about a reputation throughout the world that we are a generous, peace-loving nation? Now there's a goal I aspire to.
