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Author Topic: When Carter killed the B-1 Bomber  (Read 1003 times)

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Offline rangerrebew

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When Carter killed the B-1 Bomber
« on: January 09, 2025, 10:43:43 am »
When Carter killed the B-1 Bomber
Ike defined the military industrial complex — the 39th president won at least one battle against it
Analysis | Military Industrial Complex
 
Dr. Gordon Adams
Jan 09, 2025

It was 1977. There we stood, peace movement lobbyists on one side of the door into the House of Representatives, uniformed Air Force lobbyists on the other side of the door. Both of us were urging members of Congress walking through the door to vote to end production of the B-1 bomber. “What,” you say, “that can’t be right.”

This vote was part of the legacy of Jimmy Carter. Presidents have frequently seized on a military system to demonstrate their commitment to national security. JFK found a missile gap and committed to close this fictional disparity with the Soviet Union. Ronald Reagan gave us Star Wars, a mythical promise to put a shield over the United States. During the campaign, Bill Clinton went out of his way to endorse the still-troubled V-22 Osprey helicopter for the Marines and a new submarine for the Navy.

Jimmy Carter did the opposite. He is one of the rare Presidents to commit to end a military hardware program, usually a politically deadly thing to do. As I argued more than 40 years ago in The Iron Triangle: The Politics of Defense Contracting,and as I saw up close as the White House’s senior budget official for national security under Bill Clinton, military hardware programs are decidedly hard things to kill.

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/carter-military/
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The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so, for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee that, from different causes and from different quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices employed to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth.  George Washington - Farewell Address

Offline PeteS in CA

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Re: When Carter killed the B-1 Bomber
« Reply #1 on: January 09, 2025, 02:16:54 pm »
Quote
... Ronald Reagan gave us Star Wars, a mythical promise to put a shield over the United States. ...

Elements of SDI have been operational for a decade or two. The much derided myth has become reality.

The B-1 has provided good service. Efforts to kill the Warthog date to the late 1970s, and Congress also in the late 1970s tried to kill the F/A-18 Hornet, and those have both given excellent service. Thankfully the weapon-system-killings for which Dr. Gordon Adams waxed nostalgic all failed. Why Dr. Gordon Adams seems disturbed by Presidents being attentive to national security ("seized on a military system to demonstrate their commitment to national security" is tendentiously negative) eludes me, especially since national security is a fundamental Constitutional Presidential duty.
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I am not and never have been a leftist.

If, as anti-Covid-vaxxers claim, https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2021/robert-f-kennedy-jr-said-the-covid-19-vaccine-is-the-deadliest-vaccine-ever-made-thats-not-true/ , https://gospelnewsnetwork.org/2021/11/23/covid-shots-are-the-deadliest-vaccines-in-medical-history/ , The Vaccine is deadly, where in the US have Pfizer and Moderna hidden the millions of bodies of those who died of "vaccine injury"?

Millions now living should have died. Anti-Covid-Vaxxer ghouls hardest hit.

Offline rangerrebew

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Re: When Carter killed the B-1 Bomber
« Reply #2 on: January 10, 2025, 05:38:59 am »
Quote from: PeteS in CA on January 09, 2025, 02:16:54 pm
especially since national security is a fundamental Constitutional Presidential duty.

Biden doesn't believe this. 9999hair out0000
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The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so, for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee that, from different causes and from different quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices employed to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth.  George Washington - Farewell Address

Offline PeteS in CA

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Re: When Carter killed the B-1 Bomber
« Reply #3 on: January 10, 2025, 01:15:17 pm »
Quote from: rangerrebew on January 10, 2025, 05:38:59 am
Biden doesn't believe this. 9999hair out0000

I'm not sure any Dem POTUS since LBJ believed it. JFK and LBJ had flaws, but they did get that national security was a duty.
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I am not and never have been a leftist.

If, as anti-Covid-vaxxers claim, https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2021/robert-f-kennedy-jr-said-the-covid-19-vaccine-is-the-deadliest-vaccine-ever-made-thats-not-true/ , https://gospelnewsnetwork.org/2021/11/23/covid-shots-are-the-deadliest-vaccines-in-medical-history/ , The Vaccine is deadly, where in the US have Pfizer and Moderna hidden the millions of bodies of those who died of "vaccine injury"?

Millions now living should have died. Anti-Covid-Vaxxer ghouls hardest hit.
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