Word: aspine
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...modest cuts Cheney was about to order are still reasonable. If he draws back under service pressure, it would take courage for Congress to ignore charges of lack of patriotism and push the reductions through. It may come to that. The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Les Aspin, offers a Washington truism: "It's still easier for politicians to cut defense than to raise taxes or cut domestic spending." Of course, if a hot war with Iraq breaks out, all such bets are off. That could cost the U.S. thousands of casualties and an estimated $1 billion...
...Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney, is "to deter any further Iraqi aggression" and, if deterrence fails, "to defend Saudi Arabia against attack." Some in Washington are worried that the dispatch of U.S. troops might provoke Saddam Hussein to launch a pre- emptive blitz. "He sees us coming," says Les Aspin, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. "He could try to seize the oil fields and hold them hostage before we have enough men there to stop...
...need to draw a line in the sand," says Les Aspin, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. General George Crist, who directed U.S. planning for defense of the Persian Gulf until he retired in 1988, agrees: "We have to show Saddam Hussein he can't take another step." The question is how. Freezing Iraqi and Kuwaiti assets and officially deploring Saddam's behavior are sensible first steps, but largely pro forma. More pressure will be required for Saddam to feel the bite...
...member of the House Armed Services Committee since 1972, antiwar Democrat Ron Dellums of California has voted against nearly every new weapons system the Pentagon has proposed. As chairman of that powerful body since 1984, Democrat Les Aspin of Wisconsin has backed most of the Defense Department's plans for costly missiles, airplanes and ships. Now the staggering federal deficit and a diminishing Soviet military threat have Dellums and Aspin seeing almost eye to eye on cuts in military spending. Following their lead last week, the committee slashed $24 billion from the Bush Administration's $307 billion defense budget...
Congress keeps insisting on cuts in the defense budget, but one of the biggest obstacles is the schizophrenia on Capitol Hill: members who fight a rear-guard defense to prevent the Pentagon from cutting weapons made in their districts. Last week Les Aspin, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, announced his opposition to the B-2 Stealth bomber. But other costly programs that Defense Secretary Dick Cheney wants to kill are being protected for pork- barrel rather than military reasons. Here are Cheney's multi-year savings estimates and the reasons they may not be realized...