U.S. Military May Run Out Of Money

[seemslikeadream]

United Press International
February 11, 2004

Washington - The military will have no money to pay for the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for three months beginning Oct. 1 because the White House is declining to ask Congress for funding until December or January, well after the presidential election.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker told the Senate Armed Services Committee the $38 billion he has for 2004 war operations will last only until the end of September, as he spends $3.7 billion a month in Iraq and about $900 million a month in Afghanistan. The Army has about 114,000 soldiers in Iraq and roughly 10,000 in Afghanistan.

The White House had sufficient detail and foresight last year to request $87 billion for the coming year on Sept. 7, 2003.

That date however, coincided with a precipitous drop in President Bush's approval ratings, according to polling data from the Gallup Organization.

http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,FL_money_021104,00.html

[Caution]

1. good thing Bush is doing all he can to ensure

that our troops are protected in the field and when they finish their service isnt it? How the hell can ANYONE support this idiot? I just dont get it.

[saigon68]

15. Green SPAN will just print more money

As long as there are trees to make paper
and ink to put in the press they will merely print more money.

They will never run out.

[Webster Green]

2. Can't they get Halliburton to sport 'em a few bucks.....

until payday?

[Lars39]

3. Heads up to the military families ! Sounds like the checks will be late.

Adding more chaos and heartbreak. :(

[freestatevet]

7. Those are O&M dollars

Military pay comes out of a different pot of money.

[enough]

4. Pisspoor timing.

If this is real, the no-money story will be building to a crisis right before the election. I can't believe they're going to let this happen.

[seemslikeadream]

5. In an unusual public display of differences with the White House

top officers of the Army, Marine Corps and Air Force all raised questions on Tuesday about how the Bush administration plans to pay for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan after the current financing runs out at the end of September.

Appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, three of the four chiefs of the armed services expressed concerns about a financing gap, perhaps of four months, for the two missions, whose combined cost is about $5 billion a month.

"It's a deceptive way to finance the operations of the military," Mr. Reed said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/11/politics/11MILI.html

[KansDem]

8. "Top officers of the Army, Marine Corps and Air Force..."

...all raised questions on Tuesday about how the Bush administration plans to pay for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan after the current financing runs out at the end of September.

I'm soooooo happy the "adults" are in charge...:eyes:

(edited to add emphasis)

[On the Road]

13. End of September?

Hey, just in time for the elections!

[underpants]

18. I can see McClellan now:"Well it is a VOLUNTEER ARMY"

Seriously that wouldn't surprise me.

[durutti]

6. Give me that old time military Keynesianism...

n/t

[Mari333]

9. Just great. No armour for the Humvees, body armour cutback

my stepson about to face that place..wanna bet they will cut down water rations even further? and he will be there in the summer...120 degrees..
the grunts will be the first ones to lose..Halliburton execs will eat well, not the soldiers, believe me. They are disposable fodder for the wealthy.

[Zero Gravitas]

10. This is fantastic!

What better way to highlight this administration's incompetence and arrogance! They will HAVE to come up with that money before September, and given their penchant for secrecy, obfuscation, misdirection and flat out lying, this will come to head later rather than sooner, but still before the election! More 10s of billions needed for Bush's unnecessary war will make great press for the Dems this fall.

[gasperc]

11. let them have a bake sale

oem

[Bonobo]

14. You should have said: "Let THEM have a bake sale!"

That's what schools across America are doing to try to salvage their ravaged budgets.
No money for art.
No money for music.
No money for gym class.
Plenty of money for weapons.

[fob]

12. This sounds like a great opportunity for some Democrat in Congress

to put forth a bill to support the troops by actually funding their mission and it should have a few juicy items in the bill, like;
The CINC should be mandated to release all his military records to the public, full funding of public education, marriage for ALL, and any number of other things that need to be passed. I realize the repuke controlled houses won't let this come up for a vote or even be discussed, but it should be written and released to the media/public RIGHT NOW! Force them to debate OUR issues, fuck them and their new world order bullshit.

[havocmom]

16. malAdministration holding US troops hostage to gut social services

They will run up the tab, threaten to pull the rug out from under the troops unless all spending on social services is diverted to DOD.

Yes, it will be after the election. If they lose, there will be a mad rush to divert as much of the US Trea$urey to their cronies as possible. If the fix is in with the ballot eating computers, they will keep on keeping on at a more leisurely pace.

Support the troops - start indicting traitors immediately.

[underpants]

17. Hmmmm when do the absentee ballets have to be mailed by?

Because if it is after October 1 me thinks the suddenly and truly "volunteer Army" might not be so kind to W.

[Say_What]

19. Hey, maybe some of those Marines will say "Hell no, we won't go"

let AWOL-Boy go instead.

[seemslikeadream]

20. Service Chiefs Testimony on FY '05 Budget

Testimony on FY '05 Budget Request: USA Chief Gen. Schoomaker; USN Chief Adm. Clark; USAMC Commandant Gen. Hagee; USAF Chief Gen. Jumper. This can be seen www.cspan.org Senator Levin and Senator McCain questioning was quite good.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

21. No worries.

The Congress, quietly or otherwise, will fund this.


My prediction: 3am on a Saturday morning.

[seemslikeadream]

22. but no one is asking for this money

that's the problem!

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

23. Don't worry.

They'll get their dough. 100% guarantee. If not directly, as a rider.

[seemslikeadream]

24. I agree that they will get their money. What troubles me is

the White House declining to ask Congress for funding until December or January, well AFTER the presidental election. McCain isn't too happy about it either.

[seemslikeadream]

25. Not to worry the Pentagon has found some money

But in a hastily called news conference on Wednesday, Pentagon Comptroller Dov Zakheim said the Pentagon could dip into operations and maintenance accounts to pay for the war in Iraq and operations in Afghanistan during the four months between the end of September and January.

Zakheim said the Pentagon has adequate funds in its $127 billion operations and maintenance budget to cover the war, and it can pay that money back after Congress approves the additional money.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/special_packages/iraq/7931211.htm

[pinniped]

26. Maybe they might use Sadaam's "secret" money they claim to have found.

Just like they were to use Iraqi oil money to pay for the reconstruction of their bombed out country.

Chimpy told us before that if Sadaam money was found it belonged to the Iraqi people. If this turns out to be the case in a way they are giving it back to them. Just in a different form.

[leesa]

27. They better look for that trillion dollars the DOD "lost" prior to 9-11!

Look at our incredible bloated BS "offense" budget. Not a penny more. They take 50% of all the money and they can't even provide basic supplies. Haliburton rips them off until they are blind and they grant them a no strings/no ceiling contract as a reward. Quite a few people need to be fired, wouldn't you say? We've never even asked where the trillion lost dollars went.

[sandboxface]

28. Time to STOP Paying Taxes

[iam]

29. This is

utterly beyond belief. Dumbya is not financing the occupation because of politics. If there is one soldier who still supports this guy...
How many will die because of this?