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WAR: British army is dangerously small, says former top general

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posted on Dec, 11 2004 @ 11:51 PM
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Calling the British Army dangerously small and over committed, the former head of the military indicated that the armed forces are simply too small for the tasks they are being asked to perform. The comments made to a British newspaper by Lord Charles Guthrie, come on the heels of a government plan to further reduce the number of troops. This and other reforms could save the government about 480 million dollars (US).
 



story.news.yahoo.com
LONDON (AFP) - The former head of Britain's armed forces has warned against planned cuts in the standing army, saying they would leave it "dangerously small and over-committed."

Lord Charles Guthrie told The Sunday Telegraph that the British army "has become dangerously small for what it is being asked to do."

"Of course, if you have too small an army you can't react," said Guthrie, a former chief of both the army general staff and the defense staff who holds the title of colonel commandant of the Special Air Service.

His comments were published a day ahead of the expected announcement of government restructuring plans for the armed forces.


Please visit the link provided for the complete story.


This is a fact of life that will also hit the U.S. at some point. Military spending eats up a huge amount of the gross national product of a lot of countries, and it is an easy cut. Even here in the U.S. whose military expenditures are leaps and bounds above anybody else�s, our troops are having to make due in a lot of case. Britain gets a lot of bang for the buck from its expenditures, but has also had to make compromises in key areas as defense spending is restricted.

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posted on Dec, 12 2004 @ 01:47 AM
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lol, I wouldn't count on it, US military spending only goes up.
At least in the near (25 years) future I dont see it going down or stop climbing, With China always looking like a bigger threat I dont think the US will slow-down its defence spending.

I think cutting troops to save 480 mill is rediculous, It would make more sense to cancel maybe 1 or 2 projects to get that money, but not people.

To prevent this why dont they set aside more money for their military?

But true, most people in high up places (like congress) its much easier for them to think, hmmmm.....Build 1,000 new schools through-out the country OR get 100 more F-22's. Geee...which one do you think most of them would pick.



posted on Dec, 12 2004 @ 04:16 AM
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You can't build an empire with hardly any troops.



posted on Dec, 12 2004 @ 04:38 AM
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Originally posted by Thinker
You can't build an empire with hardly any troops.


America should think about that since there recruiting seems to be going down every year since 2001.



posted on Dec, 12 2004 @ 05:08 AM
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Originally posted by cstyle226

Originally posted by Thinker
You can't build an empire with hardly any troops.


America should think about that since there recruiting seems to be going down every year since 2001.


Thats because the average human being is geting smarter and can see right through a government who use propanganda as mean's to trick the indivudual into dieing for a false cause.

This is why most empires kill the smart ones and then brainwash the dumb ones. Sp if bush wants to create an empire, he is going to have to declare marshall law, with a frabicated terrorist attack and then imprision all the ones that disagree and allow the dumb ones to follow him.

But i guess they have new method's of geting the public to confrom. The controled media.

[edit on 12-12-2004 by Thinker]



posted on Dec, 12 2004 @ 09:54 AM
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Originally posted by cstyle226
America should think about that since there recruiting seems to be going down every year since 2001.


Any Links? Because I have heard that it has stayed the same.

Also THINKER, the media isn't controlled by the government.



posted on Dec, 12 2004 @ 10:20 AM
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Originally posted by Murcielago

Originally posted by cstyle226
America should think about that since there recruiting seems to be going down every year since 2001.


Any Links? Because I have heard that it has stayed the same.



There was a story in USA Today (Friday Dec 10) about it, and it had a graph and figures, from the Pentagon, showing the decline. I have the paper in front of me, but there are no links.

In 2002, they recruited 63,251.
In 2003, they recruited 54,202.
In 2004, they recruited 49,210.



posted on Dec, 12 2004 @ 10:52 AM
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The UK is an island and as such should have the ability to defend ourselves at home and abroad and also to aid our allies.

But thanks to this government we no longer have the ability to do this properly and soon we wont be able to do it at all.

It will be a sad day when someone comes up and punches us on the the nose and we have to run away and ask for help because we cannot punch back !!



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