Another $120 Billion down the rat hole

[golfguru]

Pentagon wants $120 Billion for the two stupid wars next year.
So we will borrow from China to achieve what?

I Wonder how many Billions we are spending EVERY YEAR to maintain the
800 military bases around the world. If we had budget surpluses that would
not bother me as much. But to keep borrowing money from China and be obligated
to pay interest for EVER since there are no surpluses to pay off the principle
is the height of stupidity.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0111/47206.html

[ladjf]

1. Don't fund those stupid wars. It doesn't help the Countries and it

bankrupts and kills Americans. nt

[obxhead]

4. It is also making the corrupt leaders we picked in those

countries rich and killing thousands of innocent people that we are trying to "help" there as well.

Unnecessary wars being fought for unachievable reasons.

[ladjf]

5. perhaps as many as 1 million Iraqis dead as a result of our

invasion. nt

[Mark Maker]

2. Even if we had budget surpluses why should we be playing

world cop and imposing our presence on other sovereign nations?

[ladjf]

6. Great point! nt

[golfguru]

8. We should not...just that it bothers me much more we have to borrow

the money to play cop.

[Autumn]

3. End the wars. Save money. That could be an important

point for our leaders who are so worried about cuts,since saving the lives of our military and innocent civilians sure as fuck don't matter.

[ProSense]

7. Gates is cutting the defense budget, and here is something

key from the Politico article:

<...>

For the current fiscal year, the Obama administration has assumed about $159 billion in costs for military operations, chiefly in Afghanistan and Iraq. The new estimates now appear to reflect the double impact of pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq and also getting a better handle on stepped-up operations in Afghanistan.

<...>

Withdrawing from Iraq also costs money.

[golfguru]

9. True withdrawal costs but it is ONE TIME cost

to keep fighting endlessly in the Afghan quagmire has no end in sight.

[ProSense]

10. "to keep fighting endlessly in the Afghan quagmire has no end in sight."

That would be true if the administration hadn't proposed beginning withdrawal from Afghanistan in summer of this year.

[golfguru]

11. That timetable has been shifted from Obama's original timetable

I hope it does not get postponed any more. But I won't hold my breath.

The real question to ask is what have all the Billion's and blood spilled
has achieved so far? Afghanistan is no where close to being stabilized.
Vast areas of country are under Taliban control. The most corrupt regime
of Karzai continues. And our young soldiers are being sacrificed.

Such heartbreaking waste of blood and treasure.

[former9thward]

12. There is no end in sight. Obama has just ordered a new surge.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748703675904576064021086613148.html More troops to the quagmire. I wonder what you will be saying this time next year?

There will be no cuts in the budget for the war machine. "In a news conference, Gates said the White House's proposed budget for the Pentagon next year would be $553 billion, excluding the cost of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, less than a 1 percent increase over what it requested for 2011." A "less than 1% increase" is not a cut. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/06/AR2011010603628.html?wpisrc=nl_fed