GRITtv: The F Word: Leaders of War

Who says the president is failing to show leadership? In one area at least, there's no sign of flag or falter. If anything, the administration's only becoming more forthright. Sad to say, that area is military build-up. Last year, the White House made a big deal of cutting a weapons program -- the F-22 fighter jet, for example -- but the cuts conveniently obscured the growth in spending on unmanned aircraft or drones -- the weapons that Pakistanis say killed dozens of civilians in twelve attacks last month -- 43 for every alleged Al Qaeda operative. This year, the president dispensed with the window dressing. No big deal about cuts -- except on the domestic side. While the administration has record $3.8 trillion budget cuts or freezes spending on domestic programs, it requests $708.3 billion for war. That's a $14.8 billion increase over what we're spending now. $548.9 billion for "regular" war, plus $159.3 billion for spending in Afghanistan and Iraq. And oh yes, the administration is asking Congress to increase spending on the US nuclear arsenal by more than $7 billion dollars over the next five years -- despite that pledge to cut the US arsenal and seek a nuclear weapons-free world. In my view, the quote of the day comes from the CEO of a military contractor-funded policy group. Loren Thompson tells Tuesday's New York Times, "The defense industry is pleased but bemused. It?s been telling itself for years that when the Democrats got control it would be bad news for weapons programs. But the spending keeps going on.? Take that you Nobel committee... And to think some complain about Democrats suffering from a lack of direction. The F Word is a regular commentary by Laura Flanders, the host of GRITtv which broadcasts weekdays on satellite TV (Dish Network Ch. 9415 Free Speech TV) on cable, and online at GRITtv.org and TheNation.com. Follow GRITtv or GRITlaura on Twitter.com.