Question: Does the money for the Iraq war actually counted in our defense budget?

[sniffa]

I could be completely wrong, but it seems that the money for Iraq (alone, not including anything else in the war on terror) is not part of the Defense Budget.

Am I wrong on this?

I could be completely ignorant on this, but from memory, hasn't most of the Iraq funding fights been about just funding Iraq, and not about the Defense Budget alone?

[fenriswolf]

1. no

they are all emergancy spending bills. not part of the defense budget.

[sniffa]

7. That's what I was thinking.

But I have no idea how to search/prove that via a quick google search.

Isn't that completely fucked up that our government doesn't let the people know the true cost? Yes, the "cost" is "released" but the average ignorant American doesn't understand the true cost (and by true cost here, I don't mean blood) that we're being saddled with. It's mentioned once in a while in numbers, but those numbers are never, ever included in budgets.

[Captain Hilts]

2. Nope. Off budget. nt

[babylonsister]

3. My recollection is also no. Different account. nt

[PDJane]

4. No.

It's the Bush accounting method

[kelligesq]

16. Yeah , it's the Enron accounting method, also followed by the subprime banks.

:banghead:

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. No it is a separate fund

[Rabrrrrrr]

6. Nope. It's all borrowed, off budget.

So when the refucklicans say that our budget is X dollars, they really mean that it's x dollars plus the money for the war.

But since war money isn't part of the budget, they aren't technically lying.

And I'm sure that our paydown of the debt that we owe China for borrowing all that war money will also be off budget.

[sniffa]

8. That's exactly what I thought.

But I couldn't guarantee that it was true (conversation tonight w/ Bi-Baby) but I couldn't prove what I thought to be true. So I came to DU.

Thank you, and everyone else who responded. :hi:

[keep_it_real]

9. $141.7 billion for the "supplemental"

"In discussing the fiscal 2008 defense budget, as released to the press on February 7, 2007, I have been guided by two experienced and reliable analysts: William D. Hartung of the New America Foundation's Arms and Security Initiative and Fred Kaplan, defense correspondent for Slate.org. They agree that the Department of Defense requested $481.4 billion for salaries, operations (except in Iraq and Afghanistan), and equipment. They also agree on a figure of $141.7 billion for the "supplemental" budget to fight the "global war on terrorism" -- that is, the two on-going wars that the general public may think are actually covered by the basic Pentagon budget."

~~Chalmers Johnson
http://www.alternet.org/story/74620/?page=3

[kelligesq]

10. You're right - part of defense budget hidden in State Dept and

Energy Department. I was just reading an article on that the other day...
And 40% is totally hidden in black ops - so we dont know where the hell it is...

sarcastically - or conspiracy theory - I wonder what happened to that missing
8 billion in Iraq..

I would bet you a helluva lot more is missing than 8 billion because under this
administration no one has been doing book-keeping...so they say...no one knows
how much is where for what.

Isn't that convenient?

[kelligesq]

11. Therefore that we are 9 trillion dollars in debt is a big lie - it's prolly

more like 20 to 30 trillion in debt I would bet , if we count everything Halliburton , and the rest of those no bid bunkies have stolen.

[sniffa]

12. I think so too

But then again, it's just credits from China, and to a lesser extent, India, so what's the problem? :crazy:

[PDJane]

19. Actually, the last time I looked,

It was closer to 5o trillion, if you include all the debt obligations including medicare and social security, etc., etc., and 2/3 of that has been incurred during the bush era.

What a legacy.

[sniffa]

13. Just a kick because this is mind blowing.

I've known this for a while, but only right now actually was confirmed. Most people have no idea, including the "informed" DUers. :/

[kelligesq]

14. OK then , let's K & R it, n educate some people lol

:kick:

[Warren Stupidity]

15. No of course not. What a silly question.

The whole fucking war is off budget and just doesn't show up and doesn't have to be accounted for under the normal rules. Our actual military budget is somewhere around 800B/yr and climbing. The corrupt arrogant criminals are plundering the treasury, wrecking our future, and lining their pockets. They all need to be put down.

[kelligesq]

17. Could you email that to Pelosi ? thanks n/t

:mad:

[Warren Stupidity]

18. If I thought it would do any good I would.

I am tiring of the Cassandra role. We are done, cooked, kaput, finished. They've stolen everything that wasn't nailed down. They are getting ready for another round of shocks to finish us off.