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More Funds? Pentagon's Main Problem is It Had 'Too Much Money for Too Long'

© AFP 2023 / FILES DAVID FURSTUS Army soldiers from 2-506 Infantry 101st Airborne Division
US Army soldiers from 2-506 Infantry 101st Airborne Division - Sputnik International
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Leaders at the Pentagon have long campaigned for increased defense spending, citing imaginary threats from Russia and China as one of the key reasons, but the US military's main problem is that it has grown too accustomed to generous budgets, international relations and security analyst Mark Sleboda told Radio Sputnik.

"The US military is still facing large degrees of corruption. Their problem is probably that they've had too much money for too long and they are able to throw it around without thinking about how it's been spent," he said. "It would actually be better for them to experience a little bit of belt tightening in that regard. A little more self-control."

The House of Representatives approved its version of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 last week. The Senate is expected to vote on the bill later this month. Senator John McCain is set to contest the $602 billion military spending bill, arguing an extra $17 billion is needed to fund what's already on the 2017 budget.

"Senator McCain has never seen a military bill which he did not think was underfunded," Sleboda joked. "The propaganda war, particularly against Russia right now, is all at some level part of an attempt to get a higher and higher military budget," he added.

The Pentagon building in Washington, DC - Sputnik International
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The analyst also noted that even if the proposed military budget is approved, it will not "fully fund America's wars overseas, which now, I think are too numerous for anyone to count easily." 

Sleboda further mentioned that the United States is trying to do too much in too many places, having far exceeded its ability to maintain its military and security commitments all other the world. The new defence budget is meant to fix that.

"The US is definitely facing an imperial overstretch. Its problem is that it's prioritizing its geopolitical goals. It's trying to do too much. It's still trying to play a global military hegemon and be able to counter and overwhelm every potential opponent in every part of the world all the time," he explained.

The US military, according to the analyst, is also overstretched. "What this new defense spending bill will try to do is address some of that and prioritize some of the areas of primary US interest," he added.

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