I understand your argument about industrial base pipeline and all that. I just don’t agree with it.
Whatever capability that is going to be used to replenish the stock will be over and done when this round is done, and we’ll be sending these machines off to who knows where to be used, worn out and eventually discarded - again.
Even setting this philosophy aside for a moment and looking at the bigger picture, this Republican ‘get’ pales in comparison to the egregious excesses they had to give Obama to get it. This country cannot survive having to pay 10 to 100 times the value of something we really need (to fund the entitlements and excesses) just to get it.
Tanks for responding, Gaffer. I won’t argue at all with the wasteful process and inflated prices we end up paying for the M1’s. Countries buy tanks for the same reason just about everyone on Free Republic owns guns: in the hope that they will never be needed. In this sense, I hope their purchase is a total waste of money. You do have a very good point on how they are used. Specifically, will they be donated/given/ sold to someone who may turn them against us? Most likely, we will have a new President making those foreign policy decisions before they hit the field. Whoever our new Commander in Chief is, he should have a strong capability to defend our nation.