British defense cuts weaken military partnership with U.S., Gates warns
LONDON — Former U.S. defense secretary Robert M. Gates warned Thursday that defense cuts that Britain has undertaken have reduced the country’s capacity to cooperate fully with the United States in conflicts around the world.
“With the fairly substantial reductions in defense spending in Great Britain, what we are finding is they won’t have full-spectrum capabilities and the ability to be a full partner as they have been in the past,” Gates said, speaking to the BBC.
Read more about Gates’s memoir
Robert Gates: A man still at war
In his Pacific Northwest retreat, the former defense secretary can still show the anguish that permeates his memoir.
Robert Gates defends memoir’s criticism of Obama
The former defense secretary said he thought it was important to be candid in his new memoir, “Duty.”
Gates issues harsh critique of Obama in new memoir ‘Duty’
The former defense secretary describes a contentious relationship with the president and his top aides.
Gates unloads on Obama in memoir
The well-respected former defense secretary treats his new book almost like an extended therapy session.
Ukraine passes laws to crack down on protests
Critics blast legislation rushed through parliament that, opponents say, mirrors Russian measures.
Adrift in Mexico’s deportation capital
Mexicali has became the U.S. government’s biggest dumping ground for deportees who often have deep ties in America.
Egypt said to approve new military-backed constitution
State news media bill the unofficial referendum results as a mandate for Egypt’s interim government.
40 more maps that explain the world
I’ve searched wide and far for maps that can reveal and surprise and inform in ways that the daily headlines might not.
British Prime Minister David Cameron rejected the assertions, saying that Gates “got it wrong,” and stressed that Britain was a “first-class player” in terms of defense.
Britain is among the United States’ staunchest military allies and has one of the most powerful armed forces in the world, but in recent years it has made cuts to its defense budget as part of the government’s overall reduction in spending. After a major review in 2010, plans were made to reduce the armed forces by 30,000 personnel by 2020. Britain’s only aircraft carrier also was scrapped.
Gates lamented defense cuts on both sides of the Atlantic, but he singled out that last move as an example of the shift in Britain’s military relationship with the United States.
“They can be a full partner and probably will because we have a long history of doing this,” Gates said. “What I’m saying is the capabilities to do the full spectrum of military operations will be limited with these plans. For the first time since World War I, Great Britain will not have an operational aircraft carrier.”
“Those kinds of things, I think, at the end of the day, matter,” he said.
Britain is building a new aircraft carrier that it plans to put into service in 2020.
The British defense community also has voiced concern about the cuts. Last month, Gen. Nicholas Houghton, chief of the defense staff, said that loss of manpower put Britain in danger of being left with “exquisite” equipment without the personnel to operate it.
But the views of Gates, who is promoting his new memoir, “Duty,” have garnered particular attention.
“When a former U.S. defense secretary says something like that, it really hits home,” said Richard Kemp, a former commander of British forces in Afghanistan. “A major criticism from outside is sometimes more noteworthy than criticism from the inside.”
In a statement, Britain’s Defense Ministry said: “Like the United States, the U.K. has had to take tough decisions on defence spending, but we still have the fourth largest defence budget in the world and the best-trained and best-equipped Armed Forces outside the U.S.” WASHINGTON ROST
No comments:
Post a Comment