Pentagon Wants $33B More for Afghan War

[unhappycamper]

Pentagon Wants $33B More for Afghan War
March 26, 2010
Christian Science Monitor|by Gordon Lubold

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon wants $33 billion in additional funding to pay for the war in Afghanistan this year and train the Afghan military, but members of Congress want to make sure they’re not writing a blank check.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton appeared before Senate appropriators to defend the war supplemental, which is on top of the $708 billion baseline budget submitted to Congress in February.

Most of the war supplemental -– a separate account used to pay for war costs -– will pay for Afghanistan operations. Of that, $2.6 billion is to train the Afghan national security force, seen as a long-term endeavor that Congress worries could become a burden over time.

When can US forces leave?
“The question is, how long is that going to have to continue to the point where we can kind of say we’ve done our thing,” asked Sen. George Voinovich (R) of Ohio. “Five years, ten years, 15 years?”

That question is atop many lawmakers minds as they consider what the Obama administration has said from the start will take years to accomplish.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/news/article/pentagon-wants-33b-more-for-afghan-war.html?col=1186032310810



unhappycamper comment: Hate to sound like a broken record, but where is PO going to get the money? On the credit card? Print it? We've already tossed a tillion dollars at the Pentagon for this year. When will it ever be enough?

[Owl]

1. Just say NO!

[City Lights]

2. Let them hold a fundraiser!

Let 'em go door-to-door selling candy bars or wrapping paper.

[Echo In Light]

3. Fuckin' A. See how far the bastards get with peddling their poison jive that way

[elias49]

4. It never ends

"Of that,<$33B> $2.6 billion is to train the Afghan national security force"

So where does the other $30.4B come into account?
Whatever happened to payGo? The DOD has a $600B annual budget. Maybe they should learn how to better manage their funds.

[unhappycamper]

6. A minor correction: The 2010 military buidget is right at a trillion dollars if you include

black programs.

[elias49]

8. Good point. Thanks

Is it any wonder we're running a huge deficit? That we have enormous national debt?
Why is this NEVER part of the discussion? Anywhere? The DOD is untouchable.

[L0oniX]

20. ...and Russian spends 50 billion this year. Why do we let our war mongers spend us into bankruptcy?

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/mo-budget.htm

Russia will boost defense spending 26 percent to a post-Soviet record in 2009 as it adds weapons and raises salaries, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said 11 September 2008. Defense spending, including arms purchases and pay raises, will reach 1.28 trillion rubles ($50 billion) in 2009, Kudrin told lawmakers in Moscow.

[spanone]

5. i'm sure our fiscally concerned republican friends will step up and block this!!!

[gratuitous]

9. Yes, where are the tea baggers?

And, of course, their horde of media fawners to get them all on the teevee? Full hearing. Respectful coverage. Or would the media turn against their little darlings if they objected to squandering money on pointless war?

[Hubert Flottz]

7. Let the oil companies pay for it...

They are the ones who wanted the war and the oil.

[BeFree]

10. Pentagon?

They want to throw more money down that hole?

And they still haven't accounted for the trillions gone missing.

We spend a trillion dollars a year on the pentagon's 'death to all' antics, yet we squabble over spending a million to keep children healthy? This country is f'd up.

[bigwillq]

11. Primary everyone who votes yes

NO MORE MONEY FOR WARS

[MadHound]

12. More money to kill more innocents in two illegal, immora wars, how very sad.

Meanwhile, back at home, our country is going to hell for want of government money. Sad set of priorities we've got there.

[tekisui]

13. ANdthey will want much more after that.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

14. Erect bogeyman, wave flag, shout "support the troops", demand more money to "defend" us.

Works every time.

[Ichingcarpenter]

15. Pentagon Wants $33B More for a big sucking noise

the noise will get louder if the Pentagon
doesn't get its money and bankrupt the government.

What a ponzi game.

[Flaneur]

16. No, thank you. Hold a bake sale or something.

[L0oniX]

17. Fuck you. Stop the wars. Pull out all our bases. Cut the defense budget down to $100 billion...

which is about 2 times as much as what Russia spends.

Russia will boost defense spending 26 percent to a post-Soviet record in 2009 as it adds weapons and raises salaries, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said 11 September 2008. Defense spending, including arms purchases and pay raises, will reach 1.28 trillion rubles ($50 billion) in 2009, Kudrin told lawmakers in Moscow.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/mo-budget.htm

[tomp]

18. fifty bucks says our "socialist" congress will give it to them.

i think they should go over to the insurance, pharma, and banking industries for a handout. i hear they're pretty flush.

[unhappycamper]

19. I know my warmongering congresscritter Stephen Lynch sure will.

He's never see a military budget or supplemental he hasn't liked.