This article is an example that can not be a short article. Until newspapers and magazines decide that they must provide good journalism, we will seldom see this type of article in the popular press or well informed voters.

The story has spots of keen insight and is an important reasoned tour of the extreme expenses of the US military machine. It fails to mention that Eisenhower also restrained military spending because he saw the dire consequences of the military industrial complex getting so much political power that military spending could not be controlled, as reflected in his famous final speech as president. The story looks mostly at strategic questions and does not fully address the economic ... More »

It is good in that it outlines the "centrist" view of expenditures for war. Ignored (other than possible increased State Department spending) are other ways of dealing with conflict. The assumption is that the world will always be on the brink of catastrophe, a pretty pessimistic if not completely hopeless point of view. dci

Well thought-out opinion piece with lots of background information and many examples given.