Allen West on DownSizing Military and Torture

The recent Republican debate's question about waterboarding has brought the discussion to the fore again. Florida's Congressman Allen West has some clear thoughts on the subject. You may remember that then-Colonel Allen West fired a bullet past the head of an Iraqi man who had information on explosives that put his men at risk. The whizzing bullet happened, and then the man started talking. West was brought before a board to explain why he took the action (that didn't hurt the Iraqi) and his answer was, "I will walk through hell with a gas can to save my men." That's an American hero. So, no surprise that West was asked, this week, to talk about waterboarding once again. First he reminded that actress Demi Moore was waterboarded in the movie GI Jane. As you would expect, West is concerned about the possible funding cuts to the Military if Congress can't get it's act together and drastically slash spending. He discusses the reality of those funding cuts and says we cannot make our Military, their families and Veterans, the bill payers for fiscal irresponsibility.

Congressman Allen West

Fox News:

The President is the benefactor of a lot of information that came from waterboarding and the important thing is, when you look at the precedent, non-state, non-uniformed belligerents captured on the battle field, under the Geneva Convention are not afforded the same type of rights. We can make that determination. As the President, you need to do those things which are necessary to make sure the American people are kept safe. I see that when we continue to read Miranda Rights to such as the Underwear Bomber, we are using the leverage and advantage we have, and in the movie GI Jane, DemiMoore was waterboarded and we do use that in military training and survival escape and evasion training.

Congressman West is asked what he feels about the possibility of the Military suffering massive hits to funding if the SuperCommittee does not come with the necessary cuts to spending:

I'm very concerned. What we saw last week was members on the House and Senate side showed that you can get revenues, not by raising taxes, but by simply lowering rates and eliminating loopholes and other savings within the tax code, and they walked away from it.

So it's interesting. I have this little sheet I carry around talking about the impacts of defense. You are talking about an Army that goes from 569,000 down to 426,000. You are talking about going from 288 Navy war vessels down to 238. One hundred Army maneuver battalions down to 60-70. We can't have...the Military, the families of the Military and the Veterans, the bill payers of fiscal irresponsibility.

View the video at the Fox News link above.