COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY IAN KEDDIE IN THE GUARDIAN
How the UK armed
forces would look if you started from scratch
The debate about
Britain’s defence funding has reached boiling point. But we could have a better
military – and save money too
The largest and most useless military expenditure on the
books is Trident.
You could rebuild a city or a health service with the money
going to Trident.
And the impossible irony is that it buys you zero security.
It buys you zero deterrence.
Those missiles cannot be used unless the US wants them used,
and they can only be used for targets the US wants them used on.
In effect, Britain is subsidizing the Pentagon by bearing
the cost of a portion of its missile-submarine fleet.
Britain's senior naval officers get to ride around on the
boats and brag and gloat over what they have that others do not have.
But that's it - that's what British taxpayers get for tens
of billions of dollars.
Oh, there is one other thing.
