http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/orl-asecmissile16121604dec16,0,3517237.story?coll=sfla-news-florida$85 million missile test goes awry
Computer system shuts down interceptor just before launch
By Michael Cabbage
Sentinel Space Editor
Posted December 16 2004
The first test since 2002 of the Pentagon's $25 billion defense against long-range missiles ended in failure early Wednesday when a computer safety system shut down the launch of an interceptor rocket 23 seconds before liftoff.
Sixteen minutes earlier, a target missile carrying a mock warhead lifted off successfully from Kodiak Island, Alaska. The goal of the $85 million test was to fly by or hit the warhead with the interceptor, which was to have launched from Kwajalein Atoll in the central Pacific.
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Published on Wednesday, December 15, 2004 by the Boston Globe
War Funding Request May Hit $100 Billion
by Bryan Bender
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration plans to ask for between $80 billion and $100 billion to fund military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan next year, rather than the $70 billion to $75 billion the White House privately told members of Congress before the election, according to Pentagon and White House officials.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1215-03.htm===========
From: www.costofwar.com
War affects everyone, not just those directly involved in the fighting. This webpage is a simple attempt to demonstrate one of the more quantifiable effects of war: the financial burden it places on our tax dollars.
The War in Iraq Cost the United States
$150,369,884,449
To the right you will find a running total of the amount of money spent by the US Government to finance the war in Iraq. This total is based on estimates from Congressional appropriations. Below the total are a number of different ways that we could have chosen to use the money. Try clicking on them; you might be surprised to learn what a difference we could have made.
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"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
President Dwight D. Eisenhower
April 16, 1953