Base Closure:American Security Jeopardized

Why is Secretary Rumsfeld in a hurry to close military bases in America? B.R.A.C. (Base Realignment and Closure Commission) will present to President Bush by September 8, 2005 it's recommendations concerning the cuts in military bases in the U S. Rumsfeld suggested list closures specifies at least 30 bases to be closed out of 425 . He claims the pentagon needs the money and it would streamline the logistics of armed services personnel. Has he been right yet?

Local communities are dreading the closures because of job loss and reduced cash flow to their communities. Rumsfeld says that $ 49 billion will be saved over a 20 year period-approximately $2. 5 billion per year. That is a small amount of money compared to the $600 billion defense budget for this year alone. Is it better to open bases in Iraq and obscure locales around the Middle East ? We spend too much on those projects with the likes of Halliburton and other rogue out-sourcing companies. Also we are only throwing good money after bad in the further pursuit of a failed foreign policy in that region. We give Israel $ 10 billion a year. Why not cut them back by half in favor of a truly worthwhile cause?

Of equal importance is the goal of having a strong militia defense. This would include an adequate logistics of bases in the U S. America won it's Revolutionary War with a militia. We lost to militias in Viet Nam. We are losing to militias in Afghanistan and Iraq. Militias are the best defense for an invasion.