War Funding, 2010- What the Hell is Going On Out There?

[Orwellian_Ghost]

What the Hell is Going On Out There?
War Funding, 2010

By JEFF LEYS

This past Wednesday, Admiral Mullen (Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) announced that the Pentagon will seek additional war funds for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars in 2010. While he did not give a firm dollar amount, the New York Times reported that defense budget analysts are kicking around the number of $50 billion. The Times also reported that Jack Murtha, Chair of the Defense Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, indicated on October 30 that he expects the supplemental spending bill for 2010 to be in the range of $40 billion. The final dollar amount won't be known until the White House submits its "emergency" supplemental spending request to Congress, most likely around February 2.

In the immortal words of Coach Vince Lombardi: "What the hell is going on out there?"



We should be so lucky if it were a simple matter of the Green Bay Packers screwing up the power sweep.

Instead, it's a matter of the Obama Administration now leading us down the path of the most expensive year in war funding since President Bush began the so-called "Global War on Terror" (now morphed into the "Overseas Contingency Operations" under President Obama).

You read that correctly. War spending in 2010 will exceed $190 billion if indeed the Pentagon seeks-and Congress approves--$50 billion in "emergency" funding. That's more than the $179 billion spent under President Bush in 2008, the previous high water mark for war spending. War spending in 2010 will also far exceed spending in 2009 (which is about $145 billion).

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http://counterpunch.org/leys11092009.html

[Octafish]

1. Our War Party at work.

Whatever happened to the Peace Dividend from the end of the Cold War?

Oh, yeah. War on Terra. Forgot.

We've always been at war with terror...

[PuraVidaDreamin]

2. Seriously This calls for mass civil disobedience

Participation beyond a message board.

Who will put it on the line?

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. How much health care we could have gotten for just the 700 billion bailout,

not mention the cost of Iraq, much less Afghanistan, much less the money the Pentagon "lost" even before
Iraq, or the billions missing that we shipped over to Iraq in a damn crate, or the millions we just gave away to Pakistan, or............
meanwhile, we seem to be doing really well at killing people abroad and at home.

Go USA !!!

[BeFree]

7. Go P

The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

The war folks wagon has the squeakiest wheels while the HCR wagon's wheels have fallen off.

There is easy money in killing things and an added bonus of rebuilding.

War is good for the economy, doncha-know?

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

8. Basically, a generation's worth.

:argh:

[INdemo]

4. With this Corporate Democratic Congress ,approval of those funds

should be no problem

[SIMPLYB1980]

5. Get use to it or find a new party.

Obama is going to send in more troops.

[Orwellian_Ghost]

9. Telling comment

Authoritarian and reactionary statement not much different than the uber right-wingers "love it or leave it" sentiment. Not different at all.

[SIMPLYB1980]

10. Like you don't do the same thing.

Everyone must agree with you are you are an Authoritarian how Orwellian. :rofl:

[laruemtt]

6. the military industrial complex IS now our government. n/t

[Soylent Brice]

11. more money, more troops. this is not where i thought we would be headed.

[SIMPLYB1980]

12. Then you didn't pay attention during the election.

:shrug:

[polly7]

13. So basically, this perpetual war thing the U.S. is killing and

maiming millions for, decimating countries, ignoring world treaties meant to ensure peace and fairness ....... all for greed and hegemony is never going to end no matter which party gets in. Well ........... screw it. We're No. 1!!! How many fucking times have I heard that and cringed. How many countries has your gov't changed causing horror, torture while stealing resources. Yeah, you're no. 1, as long as you can borrow the money to do it. Fuck this. As of today I sell every U.S. stock I have. Nothing changes. How often are the dead babies buried in dirty boxes mentioned here? How about the little children drinking from their now toxic rivers? Or the farmers being forbidden to use their own seed in favour of No. 1!!!!! Monsanto shit. What a joke.

Tombstone time for me!

I won't let the door hit me on the way out, but I'll sure's hell slam it on a waste of fucking hope.

No, you're not No. 1!!!!! Maybe in killing and horror and theft and fakery, but that's about it. You care about YOU. Period. The rest of the world is your toilet.

[Winterblues]

14. Obama PLEDGED after his last Supplemental War Funding request

That there would be no more off budget money. He said after that last $130 billion supplemental request that NO MORE..We will see just how good his word is when it comes to funding the war machinery..

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

15. Well it would downright UnAmerican to use the money for something useful. k&r

[closeupready]

16. The sad irony is that no amount of war will bring long-term peace to the US.

To the contrary. We should know this from Vietnam and Iraq both. The Soviets learned this the hard way, and it appears that our elected leaders are determined to also learn this the hard way.

Sigh. I am so disgusted at the utter stupidity and mindlessness of it all.

[Orwellian_Ghost]

17. The so called "troop level reduction" in Iraq

or anywhere else means substituting the military troops with civilian mercenaries. Obama has already increased the civilian mercenaries level in Iraq and has signed contracts to send civilian killers to Somalia. It costs more to pay civilian mercenaries than military troops. More US military bases and spy centers are being built around the world which cost more money. He also wants to put the Resistance fighters on US payroll so they would not kill US Americans.

Obama has no intention of ever getting out of anywhere USA has built military bases and spy centers, i.e. embassies.

[Orwellian_Ghost]

18. The Folly of the Present Policy

The Folly of the Present Policy

At the zenith of its growth in the last half century, the United States of America has the most powerful military forces in all of human history. But this has come at a terrific cost: extravagant demands for resources, trillions of dollars of national debt and the incalculable destruction, displacement, and death that is caused by war.

Projecting military power around the world is extremely costly for all of us.

1) We believe that U.S. policies in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan aim, in part, to secure and control priority access to natural resources and to establish ongoing U.S. military presence in these regions.

2) We think it is folly to believe that the United States can successfully control the politics of Iraq, Afghanistan or Pakistan. Ultimately, this project cannot succeed, and is not worth the cost in human lives and national wealth, even if it could succeed.

...

http://vcnv.org/pac/