BCT Editorial – 3/21/07

This page was last updated on March 21, 2007.

Combat ready; Editorial; Beaver County Times; March 21, 2007.

This is at least the 12^th time a Times editorial has referred to our military as being “ground up,” “ground down,” et cetera. These claims go back at least to April 2004, after only about a year in Iraq.

Since this is a recycled editorial trying to sell the same old talking points I’ve discredited in previous critiques, I’ll bypass a point-by-point critique and instead will address only a couple of points.

The editorial states, “McClatchy Newspapers reports that when past spending is adjusted for inflation, the $630 billion provided for the military this year exceeds the highest annual amounts spent during the Reagan-era defense buildup, the Vietnam War and the Korean War.”

This is selective quoting.

The same article also noted, “James Carafano, a defense analyst at the Heritage [Foundation] in Washington, said military spending isn’t nearly as high when compared to the overall size of the U.S. economy.

“Current defense appropriations equal about 4 percent of the gross domestic product, Carafano said. That figure is up from the 3 percent level under Clinton, he added, but still a good bit lower than the 7 percent share reached during the Cold War.

“‘When you have a bigger house, you buy more insurance,’ Carafano said. ‘When the nation is worth a lot more, we have to spend more to protect it.’”¹

The editorial author clearly cherry picked from the article what supported the Times agenda and ignored what didn’t.

As I’ve noted before, in addition to having a critical eye about what’s reported, it’s equally important to consider what isn’t reported.

As previous editorials, this one talks about the necessity for sacrifices by Americans. As previous editorials, this editorial doesn’t describe the “sacrifices” the Times seeks.

1. Defense spending soars to highest levels since World War II; James Rosen; McClatchy Newspapers; March 19, 2007.