Handing it out like we have a never-ending supply

$82 billion for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq?

Don’t bet on it…

Yahoo! News – War budget request loaded with extras

Some $22 billion of the proposed $82 billion supplemental funding that President Bush has requested for the war on terrorism would go toward projects not directly related to U.S. military action in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill is the fourth Bush has proposed since April 2003, bringing the total supplementary requests to $275 billion.

Among the funds not directly related to U.S. military action:

Bill not entirely for U.S. military action

AMOUNT / REASON FOR FUNDING

$7.4 billion: Training/equipping Iraqi and Afghan military and police.

$5.3 billion: Restructuring Army and Marine units.

$1.85 billion: Countering drugs, paying for security and supporting reconstruction in Afghanistan.

$950 million: Helping areas affected by the recent tsunami in the Indian Ocean.

$1.38 billion: Constructing/operating a new U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

$400 million: Economically assisting nations that have taken political and economic risks to join the U.S.-led coalitions in Iraq and Afghanistan

$342 million: Providing aid to promote peace for people in civil war-stricken Sudan.

$200 million: Funding education and border security for the Palestinians.

$300 million: Providing economic and military aid in Jordan.

$150 million: Providing military aid for Pakistan.

$60 million: Aiding Ukraine

$780 million: Funding international peacekeeping activities

Source: White House

Chicago Tribune

Nice. Good thing he’s cutting programs here to hand $200 million to the Palestinians, $300 million for Jordan, and $342 million for the Sudan.

When, if ever, do you think we won’t cut from our citizens to give to foreigners?

Vote it down until the bullshit comes out of it. I’ll bet nobody in the Senate has the stones to do it, either.

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  • http://site-essential.com Kathy K

    “$1.38 billion: Constructing/operating a new U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

    $400 million: Economically assisting nations that have taken political and economic risks to join the U.S.-led coalitions in Iraq and Afghanistan”

    I think we should reverse the amounts on those two.

    And I’m only for funding the peacekeeping activities if that doesn’t mean funding the UN.

    So what is it you object to him cutting funding for?

  • http://www.insignificantthoughts.com Vinny

    So what is it you object to him cutting funding for?

    Frankly anything he’s cutting is too much as long as he’s dolling out cash to the rest of the world. If we can afford it there, we can afford it here.

    Particularly troubling is the increase in costs Veterans would have to front if they aren’t receiving VA treatment for service-related injuries (frankly, I don’t care how they got hurt, a Veteran should never have to pay for health care, period!) or sicknesses.

    But the floating rumor about a tax-increase to help pay for Social Security is also pretty troubling. If Social Security is so desperately in need of reform, why not sink the $1.38 billion into the program and reform it at the same time.

    There are better ways to spend our money than building roads in “Palestine.”

  • http://www.robertkbrown.com/ RKB

    You’ve got it right, Vinny. Anybody votes against this one, guess what happens next election. Don’t think a palatial $1.38 billion dollar embassy is appropriate spending? Well, the commercials at the mid-terms will show how you voted against defending America, or even worse, providing aid to tsunami victims.

    Par for the course, unfortunately.

  • Bob

    ATTENTION!!!

    Apparently, I am very, very dim witted. You see, despite graduating from college with honors, I cannot figure out how an embassy in Baghdad costs 1.38 BILLION American dollars. I was under the impression that, compared with the US, Iraq is a relatively poor country. Iraqi police and soldiers are risking their lives and the lives of their families for a few hundred bucks a month. With $1.38B, at $200 a month (more than most Iraqi laborers make anyway, I think), at 40 man-hours a week, you could get a whopping 1,104,000,000 (1.1 billion) man-hours of labour. That’s right, 1.1 BILLION MAN HOURS! That’s more than it took to create the freakin’ ancient Egyptian pyramids!

    I assume this cost comes primarily from paying foreigners (Americans, especially) to do the work instead of Iraqis.

    Yet given that the country’s people are poor, many are fairly well educated, and one of the major factors fueling the insurgency is a lack of jobs for male workers, couldn’t we get supplies, security, and labor from the Iraqis for a LOT cheaper than we could from our foregin contractors?

    Let’s kill two birds with one stone: take half that $1.38 and invest it in health care for U.S. children, or some other worthwile cause. Then take the other $690,000,000 and splurge a bit on Iraqi labor – I guarantee they’ll work their asses off, and we can make it well worth their time. Who knows, maybe a few projects like these will pump money into moderate Iraqis, give them some security and comfort, and maybe, just maybe, win a few more cold hearts over to our side.

    But what do I know.

    -Bob

  • Pingback: Anonymous

  • http://site-essential.com/ Kathy K

    “$1.38 billion: Constructing/operating a new U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

    $400 million: Economically assisting nations that have taken political and economic risks to join the U.S.-led coalitions in Iraq and Afghanistan”

    I think we should reverse the amounts on those two.

    And I’m only for funding the peacekeeping activities if that doesn’t mean funding the UN.

    So what is it you object to him cutting funding for?

  • http://www.insignificantthoughts.com/ Vinny

    So what is it you object to him cutting funding for?

    Frankly anything he’s cutting is too much as long as he’s dolling out cash to the rest of the world. If we can afford it there, we can afford it here.

    Particularly troubling is the increase in costs Veterans would have to front if they aren’t receiving VA treatment for service-related injuries (frankly, I don’t care how they got hurt, a Veteran should never have to pay for health care, period!) or sicknesses.

    But the floating rumor about a tax-increase to help pay for Social Security is also pretty troubling. If Social Security is so desperately in need of reform, why not sink the $1.38 billion into the program and reform it at the same time.

    There are better ways to spend our money than building roads in “Palestine.”

  • http://www.robertkbrown.com/ RKB

    You’ve got it right, Vinny. Anybody votes against this one, guess what happens next election. Don’t think a palatial $1.38 billion dollar embassy is appropriate spending? Well, the commercials at the mid-terms will show how you voted against defending America, or even worse, providing aid to tsunami victims.

    Par for the course, unfortunately.

  • Bob

    ATTENTION!!!

    Apparently, I am very, very dim witted. You see, despite graduating from college with honors, I cannot figure out how an embassy in Baghdad costs 1.38 BILLION American dollars. I was under the impression that, compared with the US, Iraq is a relatively poor country. Iraqi police and soldiers are risking their lives and the lives of their families for a few hundred bucks a month. With $1.38B, at $200 a month (more than most Iraqi laborers make anyway, I think), at 40 man-hours a week, you could get a whopping 1,104,000,000 (1.1 billion) man-hours of labour. That’s right, 1.1 BILLION MAN HOURS! That’s more than it took to create the freakin’ ancient Egyptian pyramids!

    I assume this cost comes primarily from paying foreigners (Americans, especially) to do the work instead of Iraqis.

    Yet given that the country’s people are poor, many are fairly well educated, and one of the major factors fueling the insurgency is a lack of jobs for male workers, couldn’t we get supplies, security, and labor from the Iraqis for a LOT cheaper than we could from our foregin contractors?

    Let’s kill two birds with one stone: take half that $1.38 and invest it in health care for U.S. children, or some other worthwile cause. Then take the other $690,000,000 and splurge a bit on Iraqi labor – I guarantee they’ll work their asses off, and we can make it well worth their time. Who knows, maybe a few projects like these will pump money into moderate Iraqis, give them some security and comfort, and maybe, just maybe, win a few more cold hearts over to our side.

    But what do I know.

    -Bob