OUR FUTURE DEFENSE – AT 10:34 P.M. ET:  As we enter Memorial Day Weekend, it's appropriate to report on the cautions expressed by outgoing Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who has served both President Bush and President Obama.  Now that he is growing free of the political restraints of office, Gates is speaking out more directly about the future of American defense.

Remember, many of those we remember on Memorial Day wouldn't have needed memorials had America been strong and ready.  From The Wall Street Journal:

In a series of farewell speeches, Mr. Gates has warned against cuts to weapon programs and troop levels that would make America vulnerable in "a complex and unpredictable security environment," as he said Sunday at Notre Dame. On Tuesday at the American Enterprise Institute, Mr. Gates noted that the U.S. went on "a procurement holiday" in the 1990s, when the Clinton Administration decided to cash in the Cold War peace dividend. The past decade showed that history (and war) didn't end in 1989.

"It is vitally important to protect the military modernization accounts," he said, and push ahead with new capabilities, from an air refueling tanker fleet to ballistic missile submarines...

...In historical terms, the U.S. spends relatively little on defense today, even after the post-9/11 buildup. This year's $530 billion budget accounts for 3.5% of GDP, 4.5% when the costs of the Afghan and Iraq wars are included. The U.S. spent, on average, 7.5% of GDP on defense throughout the Cold War, and 6.2% at the height of the Reagan buildup in 1986.

Most Americans are unaware of how little we actually spend on defense.  The leftist press makes it appear that we're mortgaging our entire future to the Pacific Fleet.

But on coming into office, the Obama Administration put the Pentagon on a fiscal diet—even as it foisted new European-sized entitlements on America, starting with $2.6 trillion for ObamaCare...

...Last year, Mr. Gates said that the Pentagon needs 2%-3% real budget growth merely to sustain what it's doing now, but it could make do with 1%. The White House gave him 0%.

It pretty much tells you what Obama plans for his second term, and it is chilling.

"More perhaps than any other Secretary of Defense, I have been a strong advocate of soft power—of the critical importance of diplomacy and development as fundamental components of our foreign policy and national security," Mr. Gates said at Notre Dame. "But make no mistake, the ultimate guarantee against the success of aggressors, dictators and terrorists in the 21st century, as in the 20th, is hard power—the size, strength and global reach of the United States military."

That's a crucial message for Republican deficit hawks, and especially for a Commander in Chief who inherited the capability to capture Osama bin Laden half way around the world but is on track to leave America militarily weaker than he found it.

COMMENT:  This is a lesson we have to learn over and over, and each year we put flags on the graves of those who paid the price because the lesson wasn't learned well enough.  The left may get its little victory in cutting the defense budget, but some kid from Iowa will be left vulnerable in battle because of it.  Then the left will shout, "Bring the boys home," not really caring about any of them.

May 27, 2011