Obama seeks $75.5 billion for Iraq and Afghan wars 2009

[Turborama]

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama is seeking an additional $75.5 billion (53 billion pounds) for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for the rest of the current fiscal year in a budget released Thursday that reflects plans to pull troops out of Iraq.

Obama, in his first budget, is also requesting $130 billion for military operations in the two wars for fiscal year 2010 that starts October 1, which would be a decline from the roughly $140 billion he expects will be needed this year. "The budget recognizes and funds the president's strategy to increase our resources in Afghanistan while responsibly removing combat brigades from Iraq," the document said.

Congress has already appropriated about half of the money that the Obama administration says it will need for Iraq and Afghanistan this year.

=snip

An administration official said the costs of moving personnel and equipment out of a war zone were included in the budget.

Obama plans to give a speech on Friday at Camp Lejeune, a Marine Corps base in North Carolina, in which he is widely expected to announce steps to begin pulling U.S. combat troops out of Iraq.

Read more: http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKTRE51P4KL20090226?sp=true

[BobRossi]

1. No! No! No!

Enough of this fraud called "The war on terror". Why the hell is he buying into it?

[smiley]

3. Because he is one of 'them'

[guruoo]

4. "...he is widely expected to announce steps to begin pulling U.S. combat troops out of Iraq"

[avaistheone1]

8. When is Obama going to announce the exit strategy for Afghanistan?

Remember Colin Powell said never start a war without an exit plan.

[ConcernedCanuk]

2. What if - he just went for 10 billion to get the fuck out as soon as possible! ??

.
.
.

retreat

ya blew it

go home and help fix the USA!!

USA needs fixin'. . .

USA needs the $$$

go home already!

[ixion]

5. I can't really begin to describe how sad it makes me to see this headline

:argh: :(

[Mari333]

6. yes, lets bankrupt the country even more like Russia did

maybe THEN we will stop being a bullying military empire.

[mike_c]

7. FUCK NO!

Dammit! It's time to end those wars! "Responsibly removing combat brigades" my ass. Put them on planes and bring them home. It's not rocket science-- armies have done it for many centuries. It's called a "retreat." It's what they do when their commanders realize they've made a terrible mistake.

U.S. out of Iraq and Afghanistan NOW!

[blues90]

9. Isn't this what in 2006 the Dems promised to end ?

This is what I recall they ran their campaign on. Of course who the hell knows since each day something else falls through the looking glass.

Yet it's party hearty in the white house while we are to support more and more death, seems like some sort of a hypocritical move to me.

I can't even begin to apply common sense to any of this.

I think when Obama or anyone talks about Afghanistan in the back ground should be a high definition 3-D google maps of the Afghan landscape.

[ohio2007]

10. Taliban send message to Obama

But then again, it may only be a disgruntled employee of the ISI "making a statement"

Taliban killed spy as gift to Barack Obama, say Pakistani police

TALIBAN militants beheaded an Afghan in Pakistan's lawless tribal region after accusing him of spying for the United States, local police said today

The 35-year-old man was kidnapped one week ago and his body found today in Razmak some 65km south of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, an official said.

"He was slaughtered overnight. His headless body was put on the roadside," police official Munir Khan said.

A note found on the body of the man, identified as Shafiq Gul, said he was "spying for the US".

"Whoever spies for the US will face the same fate. This is a gift to (US President Barack) Obama," the note said.

Islamist militants frequently kidnap and kill local tribesmen and Afghans, on alleged charges of spying for the Pakistani government or for US forces, who are battling a Taliban-led insurgency across the border in Afghanistan.

Pakistan's rugged tribal regions have been wracked by violence since becoming a stronghold for hundreds of Taliban and al-Qaeda rebels who fled across the border to escape the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001.

The new Obama Administration is conducting a comprehensive strategy review in its war against Islamist extremists in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25111023-5005961,00.html

Maybe Barack should revise the "No child left behind" (in the dark ages) policy
:sarcasm:

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/Dawn%20Content%20Library/dawn/news/home/

oops. link is down.

Wonder whats going on in pakistan?