Quote:
Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
Here is some back-up on his anti-defense campaigning over the years.
Do the Dems have enough time to do a Torricelli and get this lead balloon off the ticket??
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Well, here's the 1984 list from the site slave linked to:
- NUCLEAR FORCES
* MX Missile --- Cancel --- $5.0 billion
* B-1 Bomber --- Cancel --- $8.0 billion
* Anti-satellite system --- Cancel --- $ 99 million
* Star Wars [sic] --- Cancel --- $1.3 billion
* Tomahawk Missile --- Reduce by 50 per cent --- $294 million
LAND FORCES
* AH-64 Helicopters --- Cancel --- $1.4 billion
* Division Air Defense Gun (DIVAD) --- Cancel --- $638 million
* Patriot Air Defense Missile --- Cancel --- $1.3 billion
NAVAL FORCES
* Aegis Air-Defense Cruiser --- Cancel --- $800 million
* Battleship Reactivation --- Cancel --- $453 million
AIRCRAFT
* AV-8B Vertical Takeoff and Landing Aircraft --- Cancel --- $1.0 billion
* F-15 Fighter Aircraft --- Cancel --- $2.3 billion
* F-14A Fighter Aircraft --- Cancel --- $1.0 billion
* F-14D Fighter Aircraft --- Cancel --- $286 million
* Phoenix Air-to-Air Missile --- Cancel --- $432 million
* Sparrow Air-to-Air Missile
Assuming that this is accurate, and that Kerry wanted to get rid of all of the fundining, I'd have to say that he was right on:
the MX (expensive and vulnerable -- remember Dense Pack? the MX trains? Jesus. only a first-strike weapon -- Midgetman and the Trident SLBMs were a much better deterant);
the B-1 (more expensive and less effective than cruise missiles for the air portion of the three sided nuclear force, and virtually useless for conventional munitions)
Star Wars (no comment necessary)
DIVAD a/k/a the Sergeant York anti-aircraft system (didn't even work in rigged tests, and which was finally killed by the second Reagan Administration -- or maybe Bush I -- despite wailing of the contractors)
Battleship reactivation (hey, the gazillians we spent for the New Jersey really came in quite handy for pounding the Druze militia in Lebanon in 1984, didn't it?).
AV-8B Vertical Takeoff and Landing Aircraft --don't remeber this one. May have been a replacement for the Harrier that didn't work.
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