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CATO Study: Defense Cuts Unlikely to Hurt U.S. Economy
Tweet Share on Facebook August 8, 2012 CommentA new CATO Institute study says deep cuts to planned national defense spending are unlikely to have a crippling effect on the broader U.S. economy because the sector accounts for only a small slice of economic output.
Data examined for the libertarian think tank by scholar Benjamin Zycher "suggest strongly that the adverse effects of spending cuts would be small in the aggregate because defense spending is" less than 5 percent of the nation's gross domestic product.
"The defense sector is too small a part of the economy for changes in defense spending to have large aggregate effects on [gross domestic product]," Zycher, a senior fellow at the Pacific Research Institute and a visiting scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, wrote in the report.
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Would Petraeus Betray Obama as Romney's VP?
Tweet Share on Facebook August 7, 2012 CommentThe White House and CIA are firmly denying a report that President Obama believes Mitt Romney wants CIA Director David Petraeus as his running mate. And one GOP source doubts Petraeus would even accept.
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Rebel Forces Planning 'Tremendous' Offensive in Eastern Syria
Tweet Share on Facebook August 7, 2012 CommentRebel forces in Syria are planning an intense offensive in the eastern part of the civil war-torn nation over the next two weeks as they seek to put the final dagger in Bashar al-Assad's regime.
A senior opposition official tells U.S. News & World Report the Free Syrian Army and other rebel factions will place "a tremendous focus on the eastern part of Syria in the next 10 to 12 days."
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Former Admiral to U.S.: Fix Own Problems, Then Lecture Others
Tweet Share on Facebook August 7, 2012 CommentA former U.S. military commander has a blunt message for America: Fix your own myriad problems before lecturing Middle East nations about theirs.
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Crumbling: Nearly 20 Senior Syrian Military Officers Defect Assad's Regime
Tweet Share on Facebook August 6, 2012 CommentNearly 20 high-ranking Syrian military officers defected to Turkey on Monday, says an opposition source who added Bashar al-Assad's regime "is falling apart."
The source tells U.S. News & World Report that 17 senior military officers have fled the country on the same day former Prime Minister Riad Hijab had defected to Jordan.
While some officials and analysts have warned in recent weeks that regime and rebel forces likely will remain engaged in a bloody stalemate for some time, the opposition source says "something definitive is going to happen because we do not have a stalemate at this point in time."
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Obama Exempts Military Personnel From Cuts; Civilian Workers, Weapons At Bigger Risk
Tweet Share on Facebook August 3, 2012 CommentPresident Barack Obama will protect all accounts used to pay for military personnel from deep spending cuts that would kick in Jan. 2 if lawmakers fail to pass a $1.2 trillion deficit-reduction measure, placing a bulls eye on civilian employees and weapon programs.
The move "is considered to be in the national interest to safeguard the resources to compensate the men and women service to defend our nation and to maintain the force levels required for national security," Obama writes in a July 31 memo sent to congressional leaders.
In that memo, Obama acknowledges "this action would increase the [impact] in other defense programs."
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Regime Fires Mortars Into Syrian Streets As U.S. Plans For Post-Assad Era
Tweet Share on Facebook August 3, 2012 CommentSyrian President Bashar al-Assad reportedly is firing mortars and cluster munitions on his own citizens as his forces and rebel elements continue a bloody civil war. Instead of stepping in to drive Assad from power even as more and more civilians die, however, Washington and its allies continue to work toward setting up a government to eventually replace him.
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Academics: Pentagon Data Shows MRAPs Not Safer Than Other Vehicles
Tweet Share on Facebook August 2, 2012 CommentThe massive blast-resistant vehicles the George W. Bush administration bought last decade and sent to Iraq often are hailed as the Pentagon's wisest purchase in some time. But two academics are challenging assertions in a controversial new piece.
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A Rare Moment of Budget Honesty on Capitol Hill
Tweet Share on Facebook August 2, 2012 CommentBuried in a three-hour partisan verbal slugfest Wednesday about how to avoid deep federal spending cuts was a poignant moment. Someone actually offered what sounded like a plan for doing so.
During a House Armed Services Committee session, members of the normally cordial panel did what politicians do best: They talked, screamed, badgered and accused. But then New Jersey Democratic Rep. Robert Andrews spoke up and did something rare in today's Washington: He was honest.
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Three Reasons Skipping Afghanistan Won't Hurt Mitt Romney
Tweet Share on Facebook August 1, 2012 CommentMitt Romney wants to be commander in chief. Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, two U.S. commanders in chief have kept thousands of American troops deployed to Afghanistan. Yet, when Romney traveled last week to Europe and the Middle East, he opted against visiting those troops.
