Army Says No To More Tanks, But Congress Insists

[A Little Weird]

I think this story deserves wider attention.

http://www.lex18.com/news/army-says-no-to-more-tanks-but-congress-insists/

Yet in the case of the Abrams tank, there's a bipartisan push to spend an extra $436 million on a weapon the experts explicitly say is not needed.

"If we had our choice, we would use that money in a different way," Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army's chief of staff, told The Associated Press this past week.

Why are the tank dollars still flowing? Politics.

[spanone]

1. i'm sure the tanks are built in someone's congressional district...therefore .......

[Robb]

2. Tanks but no tanks.

Headline writer showed remarkable restraint.

[arcane1]

5. Indeed!

[Revanchist]

3. I sometimes wonder what the military budget would be

I sometimes wonder what the military budget would be if they were allowed to decide what to spend the money on instead of congress.

[A Little Weird]

4. Me too

I suspect they would have very different priorities.

[L0oniX]

6. ...while our economy tanks.

[DJ13]

7. Quick, slash SS & Medicare, the military (does not) need tanks!

The priorities in DC (both parties) are about as fucked up as possible.

[Paper Roses]

8. It would be nice to know who owns stock in whatever company

builds these horrible weapons.

[A Little Weird]

9. The company

The company that operates the production facility is called General Dynamics. The article says they spent $11 million dollars on lobbying last year.

[raccoon]

10. I was sure this was the Onion! Rec'd. nt

[A Little Weird]

12. I probably should have addeed "not satire" to the title

It's getting harder to tell them apart these days.

[Auggie]

11. Look no futher than Ohio. Lima, particularly.

From the article:

If there's a home of the Abrams, it's politically important Ohio. The nation's only tank plant is in Lima. So it's no coincidence that the champions for more tanks are Rep. Jim Jordan and Sen. Rob Portman, two of Capitol's Hill most prominent deficit hawks, as well as Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown. They said their support is rooted in protecting national security, not in pork-barrel politics.

"The one area where we are supposed to spend taxpayer money is in defense of the country," said Jordan, whose district in the northwest part of the state includes the tank plant.

[octothorpe]

13. Because this isn't enough...

https://maps.google.com/?ll=40.197745,-120.141758&spn=0.00211,0.004619&t=h&z=18

[Brother Buzz]

14. Zoom out a bit, it gets better

Jeez Louise!

[A Little Weird]

15. Wow!

That's insane.