Vite, vite, encore plus d’argent pour le Pentagone

Le Congrès s’est montré généralement assez peu satisfait du budget du Pentagone. Motif : pas assez élevé. L’hystérie patriotarde et électoralistes des parlementaires se traduit en une nouvelle sorte d’idéologie : le bellicisme comptable. Les démocrates ne sont pas les derniers à y souscrire, surtout les soi-disant “libéraux”, de Joe Lieberman à Hillary Clinton. Leur philosophie : de l’argent, toujours plus d’argent pour le Pentagone.

Defense News nous donne un aperçu de la chose. Ambiance, avec Rumsfeld en position de devoir réfuter les arguments pour augmenter le budget.

« Democrat Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut acknowledged that the defense budget is going up. “That’s not surprising,” he said. “We’re at war. It would be bizarre if it didn’t go up. It’s a hot war; people are getting killed.” Lieberman said he was “troubled” by a lack of additional money for Iraq reconstruction in the proposed defense budget. “You can cut and run economically as well as militarily,” he told Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. He urged Rumsfeld to include more money for reconstruction in the forthcoming supplemental.

» Lieberman also worried that unless defense spending is increased “dramatically” in the next five years, the U.S. military won’t be able to afford all of the weapons it is planning to buy. [...] Sen. James Talent, R-Mo., said he, too, is concerned that the defense budget is too small. The military may not be able to afford all of the ships, fighter jets, refueling tankers and military construction projects it has planned for the near future, he said. [...] At $439.3 billion, the defense budget amounts to 3.2 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP). Historically, the nation has spent closer to 5 percent of GDP on defense. “We may just have to commit as a nation to spending more of GDP on defense,” Talent said.

» The calls for more put Rumsfeld in the unusual position of defending his budget as big enough. “Would everyone always like more? You bet,” he said. But it’s not needed. “There is always a big bow wave out there” of expenses that look unaffordable, Rumsfeld said, but invariably prove to be manageable. »

Mis en ligne le 9 février 2006 à 13H09