A Candid General's Parting Shot
The Army boss on the rising cost of the war-and the necessity of not giving up
The Army's predicament predates Iraq. After the Cold War, it shrank by 40 percent and was underfunded by some $100 billion, Schoomaker calculates. By the time the Iraq war started, that deficit had narrowed to $56 billion. Now, with the Army's slated increase, the cost of recruiting, training, equipping, and housing will also grow. And replacing war-damaged equipment will cost an additional $13 billion to $18 billion per year for several years after U.S. combat troops leave Iraq.
As Congress begins debating a $100 billion supplemental bill for Iraq, Schoomaker notes that it is a coequal branch of government with the power of the purse. But he is also using his last weeks as Army chief to argue that the country's $13 trillion economy can afford to spend 5 percent of its gross domestic product on defense [chart above]. A man of decidedly Spartan outlook, he decries Americans' love affair with consumer spending and lack of attention to the new and diverse dangers of this era. As he recently told the Dallas World Affairs Council: "It is not a question of affordability; it is a question of priorities."
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