Highbrow Magazine - Pentagon https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/pentagon en Abrams Tanks v. the U.S. Army: Pentagon Wins This Round https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/2456-abrams-tanks-v-us-army-pentagon-wins-round <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Wed, 05/22/2013 - 08:59</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumabramstanks%20%28Benjamin%20Gable%20Wiki%29.jpg?itok=Y2WOJFyT"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumabramstanks%20%28Benjamin%20Gable%20Wiki%29.jpg?itok=Y2WOJFyT" width="480" height="310" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>  </p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 12.75pt; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">  </p> <p> On March 18, after 69 years of being stationed on German soil, the US Army loaded up the last remaining Abrams tanks and <a href="http://www.military.com/daily-news/2013/04/04/us-armys-last-tanks-depart-from-germany.html">shipped them home</a> to South Carolina. This will mark the first time that not a single U.S. tank is present on the European Continent since the first Sherman tanks landed on D-Day. The tanks, along with their corresponding armored divisions, were stationed there initially as a main combat feature throughout the Cold War. Modern realignments have altered the military landscape along with prospects of future conflicts which have shifted away from the type of heavy land battles that tanks are required for. As political and military realities shift and the historical presence of tanks as main combat tools is scaled back, the battle over the tanks has found a new frontier in Congress, concerning political posturing and defense budget cuts. </p> <p>  </p> <p> Once the sequester took hold, a large portion of cost-cutting would come from the Defense Department, requiring that the most well-funded military in the world trim down. Amongst many cost-saving initiatives, the Pentagon proposed shunning the production of any new Abrams tanks. Just as with the existing tanks being shipped out of Germany, the Abrams tank was no longer a necessary tool for today’s modern conflicts. The Pentagon explicitly stated that they already had too many tanks and did not want more of them, but as the <em>Washington Times </em><a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/may/9/lawmakers-force-pentagon-to-buy-tanks-keep-ships-a/#ixzz2TIQhCnk2">reported</a>, “Congress has authorized almost half-a-billion dollars over two years to build Abrams tanks for the Army.  But the Army has said it currently doesn’t need any tanks, and the money would be better used elsewhere. ‘If we had our choice, we would use that money in a different way,’ Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army’s chief of staff, said.’”</p> <p>  </p> <p> By going against the recommendations and budgetary requirements of the Army, Congress has voted to spend an extra $436 Million to continue production of the Abrams tank. However if the Army doesn’t want them then what is the motivation for Congress to force their production? The Huffington Post explained by <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/28/abrams-tank-congress-army_n_3173717.html">clarifying</a>, “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.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> Since the closing of the Detroit Arsenal Tank Plant in 1996, the Joint Systems Manufacturing Center (Also known as the Lima Army Tank Plant) where the M-1 Abrams tank is manufactured has been the only operating tank plant left in the country. Closing the only American tank plant remaining, or at least temporarily as the army has proposed to do from 2014-2017, poses a few issues. The initial argument is that losing the key knowledge capital of how to manufacture large-scale tanks, as well as disrupting the industrial base, is dangerous to national security.</p> <p>  </p> <p> The argument goes that if in the future it is necessary to suddenly begin producing tanks again, we will not be able to do so as efficiently. However, the Army was never insisting upon completely shutting down all future full production of the Abrams tank. Tank production would only stop until 2017, and then the Army had planned to ramp up production on a newly designed Abrams tank. The Huffington Post <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/28/abrams-tank-congress-army_n_3173717.html">reported that</a>, “’This pause in tank production for the U.S. would allow the Army to spend its money on research and development work for the new and improved model, said Ashley Givens, a spokeswoman for the Army's Ground Combat Systems office.’”</p> <p>  </p> <p> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/jimjordan.jpg" style="width: 399px; height: 600px;" /></p> <p>  </p> <p> If the Army sticks to its chosen timetable, then the knowledge capital loss argument holds less weight. Building a more modern Abrams tank, along with research and development, would mean further training and manufacturing advancement that will only help bolster the process. However the argument over knowledge capital has more to do with Lima, Ohio.</p> <p>  </p> <p> The most contested argument over ceasing production on the Abrams tank has more to do with the realities of military pork spending in political districts. The plant employs around 700 people in the important manufacturing sector, and these workers along with the community count on the economic benefits from the hundreds of millions of dollars poured into the Abrams tanks. It is therefore no surprise that the senators and representatives who answer to the northwest constituencies in Ohio fought the loudest to force continued production of the Abrams tank.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Representative Jim Jordan, a Republican congressman known as a deficit hawk, insists that his drive to continue tank production has nothing to do with pork barrel spending, but as reported by the <em>Washington Times</em>, “‘My job is to represent the 4th Congressional District […] ‘But the fact remains, if it was not in the best interests of the national defense for the United States of America, then you would not see me supporting it like we do.’” This is questionable logic since the Defense Department has ardently maintained that it does not need any more tanks and that a half-billion dollars could be better utilized toward more pressing budgetary needs or newer technology better fit for modern warfare.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Representative Jordan, whose district includes the tank plant, has gone on to <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/army-says-no-more-tanks-115434897.html">insist</a> that we are supposed to spend taxpayer money in defense of the country, however, as <em>Business Insider</em> reported, “The only problem with this statement is that the Pentagon doesn’t want the tank. It’s an effective weapon if you’re trying to take Berlin from the Nazis. But it has no practical use in combating the threats the United States faces today.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> For more than 70 years, the Army has been purchasing tanks at a continuous pace, however with the changed military landscape, the need for the Abrams tank has diminished. Continued production of the older models has as much to do with politics as it does with the security of our nation. The Pentagon understands its own needs. Moreover, since it is tasked with maintaining U.S. armed forces, it has no reason to reject funding for weaponry, unless the weaponry is outdated for the modern threats that we face.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p> <em>Alexander Ostrovsky is a contributing writer at</em> Highbrow Magazine.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/abrams-tanks" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">abrams tanks</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/army" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">the army</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/pentagon" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Pentagon</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/us-army-0" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">us army</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/war" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">war</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/afghanistan" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Afghanistan</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/iraq" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Iraq</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/lima-ohio" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">lima ohio</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/rep-jim-jordan" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">rep jim jordan</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Alexander Ostrovsky</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Benjamin Gable, Wikipedia Commons</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Wed, 22 May 2013 12:59:36 +0000 tara 2895 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/2456-abrams-tanks-v-us-army-pentagon-wins-round#comments Mexico Seeks New Solutions to Combat the War on Drugs https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/1453-mexico-seeks-new-solutions-combat-war-drugs <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Tue, 08/07/2012 - 16:48</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumwarondrugs.jpg?itok=nw3G7pEj"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumwarondrugs.jpg?itok=nw3G7pEj" width="480" height="268" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>  </p> <p> From <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2012/08/mexicos-president-elect-signals-internationalization-of-drug-war.php">New America Media</a>:</p> <p>  </p> <p> MEXICO CITY – Mexicans have long grown weary of their country’s prolonged War on Drugs. Now, with President-elect Enrique Peña Nieto set to take office in December, it appears change may finally be in the offing.</p> <p>  </p> <p> That change, however, may not be what most Mexicans were expecting.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “A transnational phenomenon requires a transnational strategy,” Óscar Naranjo, Colombia’s former director of the National Police and current advisor to Peña Nieto, told reporters last week.  “No country can succeed in an insular and isolated manner if it is to achieve timely or definitive victories.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> Far from “re-envisioning” the approach taken by outgoing President Felipe Calderon, credited with having launched the crackdown on the country’s drug cartels in 2006, Peña Nieto is preparing the Mexican people for a major escalation. It is a shift that could draw in military forces from Mexico’s neighbors, including the United States.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Mexico has not had foreign troops on its soil since the U.S. invaded in 1847. The country’s constitution bans foreign troops from its territory. But Mexican officials have been quietly developing strategies for circumventing these prohibitions. </p> <p>  </p> <p> High-ranking advisors suggest one strategy would be to develop a “multinational” military force comprised of American, Colombian and Chilean military advisors to work with Mexican marines and special forces under an international mandate.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “Not only the United States, but the world, must ally with Mexico to help Mexico overcome the challenge of transnational crime,” Naranjo continued. </p> <p>  </p> <p> Still, he insisted, the final “solution to the Mexican problem remains in the hands of Mexicans.” It is an assertion that ignores one crucial fact: the War on Drugs has never been in the hands of the Mexicans. During the recent presidential campaign, none of the candidates were willing to touch the issue.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Josefina Vazquez, candidate from Calderón’s National Action party (PAN), made no mention of it, presumably because she did not want to remind voters that it was her party that first launched the campaign. Peña Nieto steered clear knowing that governors from his Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) stood accused of collaborating with drug traffickers, or being corrupted by them. The leftist candidate, Andrés López Obrador of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), avoided discussing the War on Drugs simply because he had no new ideas to offer.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Their collective reluctance to broach the subject was cause for much discussion throughout the Spanish-speaking world.</p> <p>  </p> <p> But now that Peña Nieto is well on his way to the presidential palace, he is beginning to reveal his strategy.</p> <p>  </p> <p> For several years Mexico has availed itself of the United States for assistance, including the sending of Mexican marines to the U.S. for Pentagon training in counter-intelligence and special forces military strikes. </p> <p>  </p> <p> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/2mediumdrugwars.jpg" style="width: 600px; height: 321px; " /></p> <p>  </p> <p> “We have learned from American officers who have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan,” a Mexican marine corporal, who asked that his name not be used as he is not authorized to speak to the media, told American reporters in October 2011. “The Americans suffer from similar types of ambushes in their wars, and have learned how to respond to them in a tight, disciplined way. We apply those techniques to our fight here.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> The training of Mexican marines for Iraq- and Afghanistan-style warfare by the Pentagon is only part of the “transnational” approach pursued by Calderón.  Mexico has received intelligence from the U.S. military as well.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “A sea change has occurred over the past years in how effective Mexico and U.S. intelligence exchanges have become,” Arturo Sarukhán, Mexico’s ambassador to the United States, confirmed to the New York Times a year ago. “It is underpinned by the understanding that transnational organized crime can only be successfully confronted by working hand in hand, and that the outcome is as simple as it is compelling: we will together succeed or together fail.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> This gradual escalation is set to accelerate once Peña Nieto takes office, with speculation that Mexico might make an appeal to the Organization of American States (OAS) or the United Nations for “help” in preventing the emergence of a “narco-state.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> Under this scenario, Latin American countries and the United States would come to the “assistance” of Mexico with the authorization of an OAS declaration or a United Nations resolution affirming the legitimate need for assistance by the Mexican government.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Such help has already come, albeit in clandestine fashion, from the United States. Last year it was revealed that American drones authorized by the Obama administration had violated Mexican airspace. “Stepping up its involvement in Mexico’s drug war, the Obama administration has begun sending drones deep into Mexican territory to gather intelligence,” the <em>New York Times</em> reported.</p> <p>  </p> <p> For the White House, it was an embarrassing revelation. But what was “embarrassing” in 2011 may now be part of Peña Nieto’s new strategy, one well-timed with events north of the border.</p> <p>  </p> <p> As American involvement in Iraq winds down and U.S. troop numbers in Afghanistan are scaled back, the additional personnel may allow U.S. military officials to contemplate “limited” and “strategic” operations to assist in a “multinational” effort for other missions in Latin America. </p> <p>  </p> <p> This “transnational” nature of the War on Drugs that Mexican officials are now openly discussing is part of a national conversation swirling through the Mexican capital, anticipating how such an approach might succeed where the current Mexico-alone strategy has failed.  </p> <p>  </p> <p> For Peña Nieto, it is clear that had he openly debated this course of action, the presidential election might have turned out differently.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2012/08/mexicos-president-elect-signals-internationalization-of-drug-war.php">New America Media</a></p> <p>  </p> <p> <em><strong>Photos: New America Media; AP. </strong></em></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/mexico" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Mexico</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/war-drugs" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">war on drugs</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/piena-nieto" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Piena Nieto</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/mexican-president" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Mexican President</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/united-states" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">United States</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/narcotics" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">narcotics</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/calderon" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Calderon</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/pentagon" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Pentagon</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/iraq" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Iraq</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/afghanistan" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Afghanistan</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Louis E.V. Nevaer</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Tue, 07 Aug 2012 20:48:02 +0000 tara 1363 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/1453-mexico-seeks-new-solutions-combat-war-drugs#comments