President Donald Trump |
President Donald Trump on Friday promised a historic buildup of
America’s already vast military, but said he hoped he would never need to use
it. “We are putting in a massive budget request for our
beloved military and we will be substantially upgrading all of our military,”
Trump told the Conservative Political
Action Conference (CPAC) just outside Washington. “Offensive,
defensive, everything bigger and better and stronger than ever before and
hopefully we’ll never have to use it,” he added.
Trump last
month signed an executive order to begin increasing the size of the US armed
forces, promising new aircraft, naval ships and more resources for the
Pentagon. The order provided few specifics but Trump made clear during last
year’s campaign and in recent weeks that he wants to enlarge the ranks of the
military and expand its fleets of aircraft and ships.
Top brass
from across the armed services in recent weeks have decried staffing and
equipment shortcomings that pose a threat to morale and operational readiness. “Nobody’s going to mess with us, folks. Nobody. It will be
one of the greatest military buildups in American history,” Trump said.
While
campaigning, Trump frequently lamented what he described as a depleted US
military and complained America no longer wins wars. “Nobody
will dare question our military might again,” he told the conservative
conference. “We believe in peace through strength. And
that’s what we will have.”
The US
military is already by far the world’s most powerful and most expensive. It has
bases spanning the globe, an annual budget of more than $600 billion and about
1.3 million active duty troops. Military spending accounts for about 3.3
percent of America’s GDP and Republicans are eager to spend billions more,
though for now it is unclear where the extra cash would come from, especially
if the Trump administration cuts taxes. (Guardian)
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