What Is the Military's Mission?

In Michael O'Hanlon's analysis that the Obama administration is underfunding the Pentagon ["Obama's Defense Budget Gap," op-ed, June 10], he failed to address the most important question: What is the mission that would justify perpetuating the colossal U.S. military budget?

Should the United States occupy Iraq and Afghanistan indefinitely (Mr. O'Hanlon has supported both wars)? Are our huge military budget, which at more than $600 billion per year is almost as large as those of the rest of the world's countries combined, and more than 700 foreign bases justified by a global "war on terror"?

Evidently Mr. O'Hanlon is not interested in these questions, just in ensuring that the Pentagon continues to get more than half of the federal discretionary budget while programs for education, affordable housing, health care and the environment go begging, thereby degrading our economy and our overall quality of life.

The military-industrial complex that President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned us about has become a nearly omniscient political power with an interest in its own self-perpetuation that has little to do with defending the country.

Mr. O'Hanlon ought to question what the military's mission is before shilling for it.

KEVIN MARTIN

Executive Director

Peace Action

Silver Spring