High Costs Weigh on Troop Debate for Afghan War

[TomCADem]

Source: NY Times

Several leading Republicans have criticized Mr. Obama’s willingness to spend more freely on domestic programs and urged him to provide General McChrystal with the resources he is seeking in Afghanistan.

“Keeping our country safe: Isn’t that the first job of government?” said Senator Christopher S. Bond, a Republican from Missouri and the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. “If we have just a minimalist counterterrorism strategy, the Taliban will come back over the mountains from Pakistan, and they will be followed by their co-conspirators from the Al Qaeda organization.”

Cost is far from the only concern about escalating the war. The debate intensified last week amid disclosures that the United States ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl W. Eikenberry, had sent cables to Washington expressing his reservations about deploying additional troops, citing weak Afghan leadership and widening corruption.

That kind of doubt could also make some in Congress hesitant to support an expansion of the war, especially with the midterm elections coming next year.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/us/politics/15cost.html?_r=1&hp

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That is an interesting attack on programs like health care reform. The first job of the federal government is to wage war, thus we should cut domestic programs in order to have more $$$ available for that purpose. Oddly, Republicans never mentioned this rationale as they approved and supported Bush's deficit busting tax cuts in the midst of two wars.

[Stumbler]

1. Why are (R)s so damned cowardly?

I know it's probably MIC-linked greed more than cowardice, but why do they rely so heavily on the Taliban/ Al Queada, bin Laden boogey-men? It's not enough that our citizens "in the homeland" are dying for lack of adequate health care coverage, or that many of us are broke and unemployed. No... we need to shut down more domestic programs, and continue funneling that money to war contractors, so we can kill civilians overseas... Yeah, that's what Jesus What Would Do...

[C_Lawyer09]

4. What was the GOP

is no longer. Though there were never many whom I agreed with on more than a couple of subjects, historically there were always several that didn't neccesarily adhere to the party line, or would dissent against a fair amount of pressure. In my opinion, the two that are left aside from Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins are Lindsay Graham and Richard Lugar. I think Chuck Hagel left, because he saw the writing on the wall of the imminent idelogue takeover. My home state (OR) had proud tradition of environmentally friendly R. politicians, and/or those whom would take a stand against war. Tom McCall, Mark Hatfield, etc. the R. party has for the most part been hijacked. Good post.

[Bigmack]

2. Obama needs to grow a pair...

and explain to this country that we simply cannot afford an Empire anymore. Somebody has got to do it. Over 700 bases overseas... the latest high-tech weapons and systems... supply lines stretching across the world... biggest military budget than the rest of the world put together.

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron."
Dwight D. Eisenhower, From a speech before the American Society of Newspaper Editors, April 16, 1953

[saigon68]

3. He will never "Grow a Pair"

he is subservient to the Likes of Racist Lindsay Graham and Joementum Limpmann

and the controlling corporate shot callers.

[TomCADem]

6. Gosh, I Got The Impression That Republicans Are Voting Against Everything He Proposes

I guess "no" means "yes"?

[C_Lawyer09]

5. Good post Mack

I rarely see the 700 number mentioned. (130) countries as well. I'm about to retire from the military, it blew my mind when I read those numbers a few years ago. If you get a chance, or if you haven't already, you might want to check out the "Blowback" trilogy by Chalmers Johnson, I think the third book is the best. Presents a damn good argument for making both the DOD and CIA budget one hundred percent transparent. Even if these tactics were correct (and I agree with you that they are not)the military, especially the Army and the Marine Corps cannot sustain this operational tempo. Good post!

[Miss Authoritiva]

7. Absolutely...

The Chalmers Johnson trilogy is a must-read.

[Bigmack]

8. Yup... read 'em all. He's fantastic.. nt