Posted on Mar 2, 2015
US fears that Britain's defence cuts will diminish Army on world stage
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Now, General Raymond Odierno, the Chief of Staff of the US army, who has fought alongside British forces in several conflicts, including the recent campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, has become the latest senior officer to express his concerns in public, telling The Telegraph when I met him in Washington last week that he is “very concerned” about the impact the cuts are having.
His comments, moreover, came after President Barack Obama had taken issue with David Cameron when he visited the White House in January. He warned the Prime Minister of the dangers of allowing British defence expenditure to fall below the 2 per cent of GDP threshold required by our Nato membership.
For there are growing fears that cuts will jeopardise a central tenet of the post-Second World War transatlantic alliance – namely, that Britain can be counted upon to provide military hardware to US-led campaigns in defence of Western interests.
Read more:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/11443204/Britain-is-becoming-a-friend-who-cant-be-trusted-says-top-US-general.html
His comments, moreover, came after President Barack Obama had taken issue with David Cameron when he visited the White House in January. He warned the Prime Minister of the dangers of allowing British defence expenditure to fall below the 2 per cent of GDP threshold required by our Nato membership.
For there are growing fears that cuts will jeopardise a central tenet of the post-Second World War transatlantic alliance – namely, that Britain can be counted upon to provide military hardware to US-led campaigns in defence of Western interests.
Read more:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/11443204/Britain-is-becoming-a-friend-who-cant-be-trusted-says-top-US-general.html
United Kingdom
Army
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 2
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Somebody has to pick up the slack and I believe the Chief (of Staff) sees the writing on the wall.....it might be left to us to do it
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Sounds like a valid concern, SSG Norman Lihou. On top of the stated concern, it's like a bunch of kids playing a game. When the "cool kids" start leaving and losing interest, the other cool kids become very uncomfortable and want them to stay and continue to play. That's the feeling I get from this story. If Britain cuts their defense spending below 2% of GDP, that - at least in some ways - adds pressure to the USA to cut our military spending even more. And our Chief of Staff obviously does not want that. (Neither do I, for the record.)
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