With New $70 Billion, Iraq-Afghanistan Reach...

[Steve Gardner]

...$700 Billion, Surpassing Vietnam

So, here's a challenge for you. Read the article below then answer the following questions:

• Where does this $700 billion of wartime appropriations come from?
  
• Where does it go?
  

Source: Election 2008: Groupspace

by Ashley H.
December 21, 2007 09:17 AM EST

By Travis Sharp, Center for Arms Control and Non Proliferation

Also posted at Iraq Insider

I figured surely, surely, with all of 2007 to consider how to slap restrictions on Bush's Fiscal Year 2008 war money, the Democrats would find a way to wind the war down without risking the safety of troops in the field.

I figured wrong. After spending much of the year hand-wringing, Congress today gave President Bush a $70 billion dollar blank check for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. No "goal" date for U.S. withdrawal. No stipulations for specific missions. Nothing.

What does that mean in the bigger picture? Go read my full analysis if you want the numbers and legislative highlights in the $70 billion bridge. Below are the key points about what a monumental day this is in terms of funding the war:

COST OF WARS TO DATE

Prior to passage of the FY2008 $70 billion "bridge" fund, the Congressional Research Service estimates that Congress had enacted $626 billion in war funding. This total includes $16.8 billion for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles (MRAP) provided in the first Continuing Resolution (passed September 27) and the FY2008 Defense Appropriations bill (H.R. 3222).

With passage of the FY2008 $70 billion "bridge" fund, total war funding approved by Congress will reach nearly $700 billion to date. This cumulative total of $696 billion breaks down as approximately $505 billion for Iraq and $140 billion for Afghanistan.

If Congress approves the administration's full $196 billion FY2008 request, total war funding will surpass $820 billion since September 11, 2001. This total breaks down as approximately $607 billion for Iraq and $164 billion for Afghanistan.

(NOTE: Breakdown of respective funding proportions for Iraq and Afghanistan is based on Congressional Research Service estimates. See "The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Global War on Terror Operations Since 9/11," updated November 9, 2007, available online).

COSTS IN PERSPECTIVE

With passage of the FY2008 $70 billion "bridge" fund, the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan...

...surpasses the total cost of the Vietnam War (which ran to $670 billion) in inflation-adjusted dollars.

...is more than seven times larger than the Persian Gulf War ($94 billion) in inflation-adjusted dollars.

...is more than twice the cost of the Korean War ($295 billion) in inflation-adjusted dollars.

...will become the second costliest conflict in American history. Iraq and Afghanistan trail only World War II, but that was a time when 12 million Americans served, as compared with 1.42 million active duty soldiers and just over one million National Guard and reservists today.

(NOTE: Previous war costs based on Congressional Research Service estimates. See Amy Belasco testimony before the House Budget Committee on October 25, 2007, available online).

[Steve Gardner]

I do find this bollocks hard to stomach.

Having just agreed a $70 billion appropriations bill (which, translated, means: $70 billion hard earned tax dollars will flow from the average American family into the pockets of corporates and their elite owners), the Pentagon has the audacity to bleat about a funding shortage.

This is the entity that is haemoragging cash in Iraq (which, translated, means legalised misappropriation) and which 'misplaced' $2.3 trillion - yes TRILLION - on September 10th, 2001 (a story that was conveniently buried, both literally and metaphorically, just one day later).

On top of all that has been spent, wasted, lost and stolen, US families can expect fork out a further couple of $ trillion to pay for this madness.

And, if this isn't mind-boggling enough, Gates, no doubt with a straight face, stated that the challenge for next year is "to sustain the gains we have achieved."

Gains? GAINS?

We, in the West, continue to murder their citizens, occupy their lands, steal their oil and leave them with around 10-15% of their pre-invasion - sorry, 'liberation' - electricity capacity, and we're talking about 'gains'?

Perhaps the most astonishing thing is, the average Joe will buy this bullshit.

Source: BBC

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has warned that the US military is in danger of running out of money for its operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He said Congressional funding for the wars was inadequate and budget constraints were undermining planning.

Congress this week approved $70bn (£35bn) - just half the sum that US President George W Bush had sought.

But Mr Gates also said many troops could be pulled out of Iraq as planned next year thanks to better security.

He raised the possibility of five combat brigades returning home by July next year, with the first unit due to leave this month.

'Fit and starts'

However he said during an end-of-year news conference: "Funding the war in fits and starts is requiring us to make short-term plans and short-term decisions."

Congress agrees funding

The defence secretary said in September he hoped US troop levels might be reduced to 100,000 by the end of 2008.

There are currently almost 160,000 US troops in Iraq.

Asked whether he still hoped to see troop levels down to 100,000 by the end of 2008, Mr Gates said he now regretted having used a specific number.

But he said he expected to see a reduction in the number of brigade combat teams.

The current declared US plan is to cut these from 20 to 15 by the middle of next year, leaving troop levels in Iraq at approximately 130,000.

The deployment of 30,000 extra troops in the Baghdad area this year - the so-called surge strategy - has led to a lull in the violence.

Mr Gates said the improvement meant that Gen David Petraeus, the senior US commander in Iraq, could "decide to bring out the first five teams by July".

"The first of those is coming out this month. My hope has been that the circumstances on the ground will continue to improve," he added.

Mr Gates told reporters the challenge for next year would be "to sustain the gains we have achieved".