by Aaron Adams | |
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Global Research, November 4, 2011 | |
Global Times - 2011-11-03 | |
US President Barack Obama's recent announcement of a withdrawal from Iraq, coupled with talk of serious cuts in the US defense budget, tempts observers to hope that the US may finally break its addiction to runaway defense spending and tackle its massive debt. Such hopes were dispelled by US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's recently concluded trip to East Asia.
Although he declared at the beginning of his weeklong trip that the US is "at a turning point after a decade of war," he reaffirmed his commitment to policies that have overstretched the US military and saddled the country with a mountain of debt.
In his first trip to Asia as defense secretary, Panetta assured US allies that the US will continue a foreign policy based on maintaining dominance in every corner of the globe without regard to whether such a stance is fiscally sustainable.
The world needs reassurance of the US' commitment to pay its bills, not more promises of American willingness to serve as a proxy military for wealthy allies. ...[Full Article]
