Soldiers Hear Bush Defend Arms Budget

President Bush told Army troops at a desert training exercise today that “uncertainties and dangers” in the world justify increased military spending despite congressional criticism that his plans ignore the dismantling of the Communist empire.

He praised Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s “proposals to expand steps toward political pluralism in the Soviet Union,” and he added, “It is especially encouraging to see anything which might bring the day of true democracy a bit closer for the Soviet people.”

However, Bush said that even with the upheaval in the Soviet Bloc, “it is important not to let these encouraging changes--political or military--lull us into complacency. Nor can we let down our guard against a worldwide threat.

“The Soviet Union still maintains formidable forces. Military challenges to democracy persist in every hemisphere. America must always be prepared to fight for freedom and security.”

As he began a three-day trip combining visits to defense installations with Republican fund-raising, the President defended his plan to make cuts in select areas--such as military bases--but to spend more on strategic weapons.

Bush made his case as he praised the U.S. Army as “the premier land force in the world today.”

In remarks at the war games, he said, “The realistic battles you wage here forge tactical expertise, leadership and a fighting spirit. And that’s what we need.”

Bush’s talk was carried by radio to troops on both sides of the mock battle at Ft. Irwin’s National Training Center in the remote Mojave desert.

The President said his defense strategy is one of active forces that are “smaller but more agile and flexible,” such as the contingent sent to Panama in the raid against Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega.

The President was expected to continue trumpeting his 1991 defense budget at a $1,000-a-plate fund-raising dinner in Los Angeles tonight for Sen. Pete Wilson.

In his remarks at the war games, Bush declared, “As we enter the 1990s, the United States is shaping its military to meet a changing international environment, one that may be potentially safer but one that will almost surely have its share of uncertainties and dangers.”

He praised the Dec. 20, 1989, invasion of Panama that toppled Noriega as an example of the kind of role he envisions for the modern military.

“When I decide we must use military forces to protect American lives and interests, I need to know--as I did in Panama--that you are ready and you are ready now.”

“Your work has never been more important,” he told the troops, praising them for making a “lasting contribution to the preservation of peace.”

On Wednesday, Bush will visit Northern California’s Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, the nerve center of Strategic Defense Initiative research.

He also plans to give a foreign policy speech at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on Wednesday.