A story yesterday on the local Washington, D.C. all-news radio station indicated that the Pentagon has been running simulations -- war games -- on what a U.S. war with Iran would look like. 

But according to this excellent article by Gordon Adams, the real war the Pentagon is planning for right now is the 2010 military budget.

Adams, who has long been considered one of the best military budget analysts around, makes a number of key points.

First, while all civilian agencies have been told not to prepare a real budget for next year, the Pentagon (along with Homeland Security, State, and the Agency for international Development) is being allowed (or is it can't be stopped?) to come up with a formal 2010 spending plan that includes policy choices for the coming year.  The strategy is to make it difficult for the next president to come up with a budget that spends less because he will look like he's underfunding the military.

Gordon Adams, a long-time friend from the federal budgeting world, is one of this country's true experts on military spending and budgeting so when he talks, I listen.

One of Gordon's latest articles is a must-read given some of the ridiculousness passing for serious debate these days about Pentagon spending.  It's short and well worth your time.