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President Bush Promises Military Pay Raise
US President George W. Bush, moving to fulfill a campaign promise, said Saturday that he will seek US$1.4 billion to improve pay and living standards for the military and an additional US$1 billion as an incentive to retain highly skilled service members.
"They (the US troops) deserve the best training, the latest and best equipment and long-overdue improvements in their pay, housing and standard of living," Bush said in his weekly radio address.
"Whenever America acts in the world, our principles must be certain, our intentions beyond doubt, our strength be unchallenged, " he said.
Bush, who planned to go to military bases in West Virginia, Georgia and Virginia for a three-day trip next week, said the visit "signals the priority that I place on our military."
Bush's spokesman, Ari Fleischer, said Friday that the president would order a comprehensive review of the US nuclear arsenal as a first step toward making the unilateral weapons cuts he promised during last year's campaign.
Directives on reviewing US nuclear deterrence, improving the quality of life in the armed services and the structure of the military were at the staff level and would be signed by Bush as early as next week, Fleischer said.
The spokesman said the review might take until summer to complete.
The review is intended to move the United States toward what officials said would be a new strategic doctrine, as well as a new approach to arms control that reflects today's world rather than the Cold War's superpower standoff.
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