The University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC) and
the UC Washington Center
Cordially invite you to a discussion with the author of:
Hidden in Plain Sight: The Bush Military Buildup
Prof. Daniel Wirls
Professor of Politics, UC Santa Cruz
Monday, February 25, 2008, 2:00 – 3:30 p.m.
University of California Washington Center, 1608 Rhode Island Ave. NW,
Cordially invite you to a discussion with the author of:
Hidden in Plain Sight: The Bush Military Buildup
Prof. Daniel Wirls
Professor of Politics, UC Santa Cruz
Monday, February 25, 2008, 2:00 – 3:30 p.m.
University of California Washington Center, 1608 Rhode Island Ave. NW,
Washington, D.C. 20036
From 2000 to 2008 defense spending increased over 70 percent. That might not seem like a lot for a nation at war, were it not for the fact that the 70 percent increase does not include the over $500 billion separately appropriated since 2002 to cover the costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The attacks of September 11, 2001 not only triggered a declaration by the Bush administration of a “global war on terror,” they also facilitated, under the cover of that conflict, a military buildup separate from the funding for the war on terror -- one of the largest increases in military spending in the country’s history. This buildup is one of the most important legacies of the Bush presidency and yet one of the less understood and least controversial. The politics of war protected and obscured its size and significance. Daniel Wirls is author of, among other works, Buildup: The Politics of Defense in the Reagan Era (Cornell 1992) and The Invention of the United States Senate (Johns Hopkins, 2004).
Please join us to hear Prof. Wirls discuss the background and politics of the buildup and its implications for future budgets.
Please RSVP, acceptances only, to Joseph R. McGhee at the IGCC Washington office: Phone (202) 974-6295; Fax (202) 974-6299; email: joseph.mcghee@ucdc.edu.
