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View Full Version : Pentagon Adds Initiatives, Retains Old Ones



SWJED
02-07-2006, 07:08 AM
7 Feb Washington Post - Pentagon Adds Initiatives, Retains Old Ones (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/06/AR2006020601555.html).


The Pentagon yesterday announced a $439.3 billion budget request that adds billions for new initiatives to fight terrorism and other "irregular" conflicts without cutting major conventional weapons systems -- effectively postponing what defense budget analysts predict will be tough decisions down the road.

The defense budget includes $5.1 billion to increase Special Operations Forces by 4,000 in 2007, with plans to add a total of 14,000 troops at a cost of nearly $28 billion through 2011. The elite troops -- now numbering about 52,000 -- are skilled in combating terrorism and insurgents, and in working with foreign militaries, but they have been stretched thin by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan...