By the end of this year, the USA will have spent over $300 billion on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I don't have the exact figures, but I think over 90% of that is on the Iraq War.
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Please explain to me again how we have gotten our money's worth for this $300 billion, not to mention the loss of the lives of over 1600 American soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians. Please explain to me how we are any better off, or for that matter, the Iraqi people are any better off, than if Sadaam were still in power.
Please explain to me how we are better off for defying the will of the international community, committing clear violations of international law, destroying American credibility with WMD lies, and pissing off the entire world so badly that we are the most hated country in the history of the world.
Please explain to me how the Iraq War is a necessary part of winning the War on Terrorism (copyright George W. Bush, Liberator of Afghanistan and Iraq). If we are winning the War on Terrorism, please explain why significant terrorist attacks increased from 175 in 2003 to 625 in 2004. Please explain why Bush and Rice have cancelled the State Department's official annual report on terrorism, which reveals these statistics.
Most of all, please explain to me why Unser Fuhrer Bush wants to keep his latest $81 billion funding request off the official government budget, so it will not be reflected in the budget deficit. Is it because he wants to keep this year's budget deficit from appearing as big as it really is?
If you add back the Social Security surplus that is being spent, and the money being spent in Iraq and Afghanistan, the true total budget deficit is well over $600 billion. Please explain to me why the Republicans want even more tax cuts, including making Bush's tax cuts permanent, when these tax cuts were meant to be temporary. Please explain to me why the Republicans want to deprive the government of another $300 billion in revenue over the next ten years by repealing the Estate Tax. In view of this total disregard for the fiscal solvency of the federal government, please explain why Bush is claiming that the money won't be around to redeem the bonds in the Social Security Trust Fund, and why he is insinuating that these bonds aren't worth anything. Is "full faith and credit of the United States" now just a slogan?
I don't know if we are living in Orwell's 1984, bizarro world, or an insane asylum. What I would really like someone to explain to me is why millions of American citizens haven't already marched on the Capitol and the White House with torches and pitchforks.
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http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050421/D89K30P00.html
Senate OKs $81B for Iraq, Afghanistan
Apr 21, 6:59 PM (ET)
By LIZ SIDOTI
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly approved $81 billion for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in a spending bill that would push the total cost of combat and reconstruction past $300 billion.
Both the Senate and House versions of the measure would give President Bush much of the money he requested. But the bills differ over what portion should go to military operations.
Bush urged a quick resolution of the differences and passage of a bill "that focuses taxpayer dollars on providing the tools our troops and diplomats need now."
The Pentagon says it needs the money by the first week of May, so Senate and House negotiators are expected to act quickly to send the president a final bill.
Other issues to be resolved in the competing versions include immigration changes, a U.S. embassy in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, military death benefits and the fate of an aircraft carrier.
"I'm confident we will be able to come back with a product, in the form of a conference report, which the Senate can support," said Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
He said the bill gives strong support to troops in the fight against terrorism and provides needed dollars for the State Department.
Overall, the Senate version would cost $81.3 billion, compared with the $81.4 billion the House approved and the $81.9 billion that Bush requested.
Congress has passed four similar emergency spending measures for the wars since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. This one would put the overall cost of combat and reconstruction efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan - as well as Pentagon operations against terrorists worldwide - past $300 billion.
The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, says lawmakers previously approved $228 billion. The latest money is to last through Sept. 30, the end of the current budget year. Pentagon officials have said they will have to ask for more money for 2006.
In both the House and Senate, lawmakers struggled to give troops whatever they needed and pay only for projects deemed urgent. Congress was leaving other items to be dealt with in the regular budget for the new budget year starting Oct. 1. In doing so, they were sending a message to the White House that it cannot expect a rubber stamp from Congress on its emergency war-spending requests.
Still, as Bush requested, the bulk of the money - about $75 billion - would go to the Pentagon. The Army and the Marine Corps, the two service branches doing most of the fighting, would get the most.
The House bill would add money to the president's request for defense expenses; the Senate's would not. The Senate version would restore some money the House cut for foreign aid and State Department programs.
The Senate bill also would provide $592 million to build a U.S. embassy in Baghdad. The House bill does not fund the construction of a fortified diplomatic compound.
The Senate added a requirement that the Pentagon report every three months to Congress on how many Iraqi security forces are trained and how many U.S. troops are needed.
The Senate also put in requirement that the Pentagon keep the Navy's fleet of 12 aircraft carriers intact. The Pentagon had proposed scrapping one carrier to save money.
The Senate version would increase a one-time benefit for the families of soldiers killed to $100,000 from $12,000, regardless of whether the deaths occurred in combat, and increase life insurance as well. The House version limits the extra money to survivors of those killed in combat-related duty.
One of the most contentious issues facing congressional negotiators is whether to include an immigration overhaul in the final bill. The Senate decided to take up immigration later.
William Coleman