Time to vote ALL warmongers out of office as quickly as possible.
WHY?
All the money spent and what do we have to show?
Our 17 year war in Iraq has cost the US lots of blood and treasure…….to be exact the total in cash is $1.9 trillion…..
Even if the U.S. administration decided to leave — or was evicted from — Iraq immediately, the bill of war to the U.S. to date would be an estimated $1,922 billion in current dollars.
This figure includes not only funding appropriated to the Pentagon explicitly for the war, but spending on Iraq by the State Department, the care of Iraq War veterans and interest on debt incurred to fund 16 years of U.S. military involvement in the country.
Since 2003, the Department of Defense has received about $838 billion in “emergency” and “overseas contingency operation” funding for operations in Iraq through fiscal year 2019. This includes, from 2014 on, money dedicated to the fight against the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS or IS, in a region including both Iraq and Syria.
The Pentagon “base” budget — money needed to keep the department running on an ongoing basis — has also ballooned while the U.S. has been at war. War-related increases to the base budget include heightened security at bases, enlistment and reenlistment bonuses, increased military pay, and the healthcare costs of soldiers. I estimate nearly $800 billion in such increases since 9/11, with Iraq’s share about $382 billion.
Add to this approximately $59 billion spent by the State Department and USAID on Iraq and Syria for democracy promotion, reconstruction, training, and removing unexploded bombs.
(Defense One)
What a waste of taxpayer money….Iraq was stable and secure pre-2003 invasion and the US turned it into into the death trap it is today.
Time for the American people to make their voices heard to end this useless waste of people and money….
Beside US troops is not the answer for Iraq….
It is by now well-chronicled that the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 was based on shockingly bad intelligence. Bush administration officials routinely claimed Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and would use them against America if we didn’t act. As error-ridden, the decision to invade was, our failure to withdraw once the mistake had been made plain began a vicious cycle that has yet to be broken.
With Saddam deposed, the Bush administration could have worked with the existing Iraqi military to maintain public order and set the conditions for the Iraqi people to form a new government. The U.S. military could then have withdrawn beginning in late 2003. Instead, some in Washington wanted to try remaking Iraq in America’s image.
VOTE Antiwar!
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
“With Saddam deposed, the Bush administration could have worked with the existing Iraqi military to maintain public order and set the conditions for the Iraqi people to form a new government”
I think that’s what they tried to do and have been trying to do ever since.
Nope….it was called de-Baathification….they hunted down generals of the military and they became radicalized….the US tried to rebuild the military and are still trying…unsuccessfully….chuq
I don’t think many of the opposition candidates would do much to stop wars. Obama certainly didn’t, and though I can’t speak for most of the rest, I doubt Biden would ether.
Best wishes, Pete.
Just one has said that she will try on the first day…..but it will take the country to be behind her and I do not see it chuq
We need to get out of all the needless wars but we definitely need to continue spending in order to keep pace with how our enemies are developing and expanding their military capabilities. Our very stability and security depends on maintaining a decisive first strike capability.
We already have the highest defense budget….we are keeping track alright….it is the waste of humanity that needs to be corrected. chuq
Most Humanity is a waste regardless. So what is the problem?
Humanity is not a waste only people that want to control everything chuq
Most people “want” to control everything but most of them don’t want to expend the work to achieve their control.
People with a sense of entitlement….they are everywhere…especially on blogs….chuq
and in Congress.
Yes and we are the people that let them do the damage unchecked….so ignorance rules chuq
“We The People” no longer have any say in what happens to us and we damned well don’t have the power or the will do do anything about it.
Ignorance! chuq
It is because of their ignorance that they have gotten into the situation where they have no say in anything anymore.
No argument but the government makes sure that the people do not have the information they need nor the education they need…..chuq
Exactly!
Too lazy to vote chuq
Votes are nothing more than government-controlled bread for the masses.
Instead of letting corporations buy it…..chuq
Yes, we definitely need to get rid of the corporations so that every dingwilly with a high school exposure can start a home-based business and employ thousands of his neighbors.,
Like now with the “internet”? chuq
The Internet is not owned or operated by average individuals with anal educations .. It is a giant corporate-controlled phenomenon — It’s ultimate goal is to spy daily on our every thought and action.
They mostly started they way, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, etc etc. chuq
That is how they started out small but that is not where they are today. Today they are Oligarchic Monoliths. (Megaliths).
and on welfare rolls
Nope that is just placing blame for nothing left to say chuq
We need a welfare system that requires the able bodied to work and a system that proves need before the welfare is doled out. We need to get the drunks and the dopers off SSI as a starter .. and we have to follow and investigate welfare fraud with everything we can muster to get the job done.
Good plan….sorry will not happen chuq
Exactly. The Liberals will see to that. They are the ones who want to give away the store.
BS as usual….stop blaming them…it was Bush that expanded it as well…..it is about votes and not about right. chuq
The very definition of “Liberal” is “Generous.” Who cares who expands it. We need to contract it!
Disagree
You are entitled because apparently you are in a position where you cannot be robbed blind by the taxes that feed the freeloaders.
I more worried about being robbed blind by the healthcare system than from welfare people. chuq
Either way, if you pay for it, you are going to be robbed.
You do not seem to be worried about healthcare costs…..but that is great….I am not so lucky….chuq
I am too old to be worried about healthcare costs because I know that when I die the stink will bury me if nothing else does. And, of course, I am fairly well situated to get everything I need paid for.
That must be a nice place to be……chuq
and waiting at the borders for all the freebies that are about to come their way.
Another pile of manure…..talking points that no rational person will believe. chuq
People don’t have to believe the talking points; they just have to pay for them.
I would rather pay a person that is poor than pay for the wars that are killing our people. chuq
I would also but that is not what is happening and nothing is going to change.
It will change when we want it to change….it is just easier to regurgitate hate….chuq
Somebody had better be regurgitating some hate because if they don’t nobody is going to be inspired to even try to make changes.
Hate accomplishes nothing good….regurgitated or not…..chuq
Love is just as useless. Have you ever stood up in front of an enemy soldier determined to kill you and convinced him to refrain from doing it by loving him? I trow not.
Yes I have stood before that enemy and I have the scars to prove it……it would be hard to convince them of love while invading and occupying there country….not a very good example John chuq
If love can’t stop the advance of a physical enemy, it sure as hell is not going to have any effect on an ideological or philosophical or political enemy either.
You just hate love and seem to want to embrace hate….you do that without me chuq
NOTHING useless about love…..sorry that you feel that way…..chuq
Don’t feel sorry for me — Just understand that it is as you previously intimated, “Nobody understands the meaning of Love.”
I do and you do….but as you like to point out it is an opinion and in so is biased….chuq
I remember the days when you would argue with me that “Bias” does not exist.
I am biased in some ways…..chuq
I am biased in everything that I do and say. And so is everybody because it human nature.
I think we need philosophy class to settle this…..chuq
We do not need a “Class” .. We need a “Definition” and here it is: “Bias, prejudice mean a strong inclination of the mind or a preconceived opinion about something or someone. A bias may be favorable or unfavorable: bias in favor of or against an idea.
Vanilla will be better chuq
“I think we need philosophy class to settle this…..chuq”
This is one of the most humorous lines I’ve ever read. Philosophy class unsettles everything ! It’s supposed to or designed to by its very nature. Great line, great joke.
If you don’t have humor then you have nothing chuq