Major arms soar to twice pre-9/11 cost (Boston Globe)

[Eugene]

Major arms soar to twice pre-9/11 cost

Systems to have little direct role in terror fight

By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff | August 19, 2006

WASHINGTON -- The estimated costs for the development of major weapons
systems for the US military have doubled since September 11, 2001, with a
trillion-dollar price tag for new planes, ships, and missiles that would have
little direct role in the fight against insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The soaring cost estimates -- disclosed in a report for the Republican-led Senate
Budget Committee -- have led to concerns that supporters of multibillion-dollar
weapons programs in Congress, the Pentagon , and the defense industry are
using the conflicts and the war on terrorism to fulfill a wish-list of defense
expenditures, whether they are needed or not for the war on terrorism.

The report, based on Defense Department data, concluded that the best way
to keep defense spending in check in the coming years lies in "controlling the cost
of weaponry," especially those programs that the Pentagon might not necessarily
need.

The projections of what it will cost to acquire "major weapons programs" currently
in production or on the drawing board soared from $790 billion in September 2001
to $1.61 trillion in June 2006, according to the congressional analysis of Pentagon
data.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/08/19/major_arms_soar_to_twice_pre_911_cost
(Boston Globe - Free registration may be required.)

[soothsayer]

1. That's ok, they can use the 2 TRILLION the pentagon 'lost' to buy

this crap

[indepat]

2. All the meanwhile Medicare and Medicaid are being slashed: oh the joys

of living in an extreme RW society.