Obama says 'leaner' military won't compromise abilities

Washington ? President Barack Obama on Thursday announced a new defense strategy that he says will make U.S. military forces "leaner" in the coming years while still maintaining their global superiority.

In an unprecedented appearance before the press corps at the Pentagon, Obama unveiled the broad outlines of a plan that calls for a beefed-up military presence in the Asian-Pacific region and investment in NATO and other international partnerships to go along with U.S. troop withdrawals in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"The tide of war is receding," Obama said, "but the question that this strategy answers is what kind of military we will need after the long wars of the last decade are over."

The contours of the plan are not surprising, and follow Obama's highly public plan to shift military spending away from a combat-troop presence in the Middle East and toward intelligence gathering, surveillance and counter-terrorism efforts.

But as Obama prepares to announce specific plans to trim the growth in defense spending, he is also readying himself for criticism of his commitment to national security.

Obama said his administration would not repeat the mistakes made after World War II and Vietnam when defense reductions left the military ill-prepared.

"As commander in chief, I will not let that happen again," he said. "Not on my watch."

Both Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey, who appeared with Obama at the Pentagon, said they anticipate heavy criticism of their new strategy, which is meant to guide future defense budgets, including the 2013 spending plan that Obama will submit to Congress in February.

The criticism from Republicans came quickly.

Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services, issued a statement saying, "This is a lead-from-behind strategy for a left-behind America."

He called it a "retreat from the world in the guise of a new strategy."

Dempsey praised the strategy and the work of crafting it, calling it inclusive and comprehensive.

"It's not perfect," the general said. "There will be people who think it goes too far.

"Others will say it doesn't go nearly far enough. That probably makes it about right. It gives us what we need."

Associated Press contributed.

Source: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120106/NATION/201060362/1020/rss09

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