Coming on the heels of $400 billion already cut from defense by the administration in its first two years [bold mine-DL], the Pentagon is looking at the prospect of trying to maintain a defense capability second to none, with global responsibilities and new threats on the horizon (Iran, China), shorn of $1.3 trillion over the next decade it expected to have just three years ago. ~Gary Schmitt and Tom Donnelly

Via Scoblete

The brazenness of Schmitt and Donnelly’s claim in this quote is impressive. There have been military budget increases in real terms every year for the last fifteen years. There have been no reductions in the overall amount spent. The statement that the Pentagon has been “shorn” of an additional trillion dollars is completely misleading. Schmitt and Donnelly are resorting to the familiar, tedious tactic of treating relatively smaller increases in spending as if they were actual cuts. This has been one of the favorite hawkish arguments for the last two years, and it’s no more credible now than it was when they started.