Pentagon Unveils Slimmer Military

Facing an eight percent budget cut, the reshaped military would draw down forces in the Middle East and focus on the Pacific.

(Image source: The Department of Defense )   BY ZACH TOOMBS   With the end of the Iraq War comes a reshaped military. President Obama and the Department of Defense unveiled plans for a slimmer, leaner fighting force Thursday that would cut 8 percent of the DoD’s budget over the next 10 years.   In the first case of a commander-in-chief speaking from the Pentagon press briefing room, President Obama said the draw down was prompted by the nation’s harsh economic realities. C-SPAN has his comments.   PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: “Yes, the tide of war is receding.  Even as our forces prevail in today’s missions, we have the opportunity—and the responsibility—to look ahead to the force we need for the future. At the same time, we have to renew our economic strength here at home, which is the foundation of our strength in the world.  That includes putting our fiscal house in order.”   Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta took a leading role in crafting the new plan -- a strategy that will dramatically cut personnel, especially in Europe and the Middle East. CNN has the overview.   “Under the new strategy, the U.S. would no longer be able to fight two ground wars simultaneously. 4,000 U.S. troops will be removed from Europe, and there will be at least 47,000 fewer troops within the next five years.”   The president made evident a shift in strategy regarding China with a plan to bulk up military presence in the region and cut off influence from the People’s Republic.   A Fox News analyst says the move is necessary but could be difficult to execute without more resources.   “With respect to the China question, the Great Wall is expanding out at sea and challenging norms of international law and national sovereignty, and we do need to counteract that. Although that’s going to take more ships than the United States has now, which is a very expensive proposition.”   And on MSNBC , retired Col. Jack Jacobs addressed his concerns regarding the reshaped military.   “If we believe that we’re going to have to fight any kind of war using conventional troops, we’re going to have to have a conventional force much larger than Panetta is planning, but we’re not. We’re going to cut it down to very, very low levels in order to save money. Panetta was hired in the first place in order to do one thing and one thing only, and that’s to save money, and that’s what he’s going to do.”   Although the budget cuts purposefully won’t allow the U.S. to engage in two simultaneous ground wars, the DoD says the military will still be able to handle multiple threats at once. According to The New York Times :   “[Panetta says] the military will be large enough to fight and win one major conflict, while also being able to ‘spoil’ a second adversary’s ambitions in another part of the world while conducting a number of other smaller operations, like providing disaster relief or enforcing a no-flight zone.”   President Obama closed his remarks with a blunt reminder that the budget cuts will reduce the military to a size seen only a few years ago, near the beginning of the Iraq War -- a size that keeps U.S. forces larger than those of the next 10 nations combined.