Obama Slashing US Troop Numbers as Part of Defense Strategy
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Kevin Lamarque-Pool/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — President Obama will join Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey at the Pentagon on Thursday to announce the new defense strategy going forward.
Although troop numbers won’t be announced Thursday, the UK Daily Mail is reporting Obama’s cuts reduce the strength of the military by tens of thousands of troops.
Now that the war in Afghanistan is drawing down and U.S. troops have been pulled out of Iraq, the Pentagon needs to reassess where its money will go, especially since billions of dollars will be cut from the Department of Defense’s budget. That’s where a new strategy comes in.
Obama will be the one to announce the changes. He’s going to the Pentagon “because he’s personally led the development of the new defense strategy, working in close consultation with Secretary Panetta, Chairman Dempsey, and other senior civilian and military Department of Defense officials,” says a senior U.S. official.
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