NATION : Top Brass Slams Military Cuts
The nation’s top military officer, Gen. Colin L. Powell, jumped into the thick of the battle over the Pentagon budget today, saying quick and severe cuts in military spending would break “the back of our armed forces.”
“If you suddenly cash in your insurance policy to buy a peace dividend, you will have neither,” Powell said in a speech at the National Press Club.
The general said that even though the Berlin Wall has fallen and the Warsaw Pact has nearly evaporated, he has been called upon to put American men and women in uniform in harm’s way.
“I have been reminded again and again since becoming chairman (of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) that this is still a dangerous world and that you’d better be able to respond if someone challenges your interests,” he said, citing Panama, the Philippines, the Persian Gulf, Europe and Korea as examples.
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