Bill for Afghan war could run into the trillions

[G_j]

http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0518/bill-afghan-war-run-trillions/

Bill for Afghan war could run into the trillions

By Inter Press Service
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010 -- 9:09 am


By Eli Clifton

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Senate is moving forward with a 59-billion-dollar spending bill, of which 33.5 billion dollars would be allocated for the war in Afghanistan.

However, some experts here in Washington are raising concerns that the war may be unwinnable and that the money being spent on military operations in Afghanistan could be better spent.

"We're making all of the same mistakes the Soviets made during their time in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989, and they left in defeat having accomplished none of their purposes," Michael Intriligator, a senior fellow at the Milken Institute, said Monday at a half-day conference hosted by the New America Foundation and Economists for Peace and Security.

"I think we're repeating that and it's a history we're condemned to repeat," he said.

Intriligator also argued that the real, long-term cost of the war in Afghanistan may completely overshadow the current spending bill.

Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard professor Linda Bilmes estimated that the long-term costs - taking into account the costs of taking care of wounded soldiers and rebuilding the military - of the war in Iraq will ultimately cost three trillion dollars.


..more..

[unhappycamper]

1. If you add that to the $3.5 trillion the Iraq war has cost us,

we've been spending some big bucks to keep the killing machine going.

[Junkdrawer]

10. But paying back the $3 Trillion SS Trust Fund would KILL us...

Good thing Obama created that commission....


















:sarcasm:

[msongs]

2. obama and dems' family values for all the world to see nt

[KansDem]

3. Where are the f*cking TeaBaggers now??!!!

C'mon, you worthless pieces of shit! Where are the...
Taxed
Enough
Already
signs?

Where are the "Don't spend what you don't have" signs?

Where's the outrage? Where's the criticism?

C'mon, assholes, where are you going to get the trillions to pay for this war?

C'mon, let's hear it!

Don't bother putting on your "made-in-China" MinuteMan costume...
Don't bother taping teabags to your hats...
Don't bother making any stupid, mis-spelled signs...

C'mon you worthless pieces of shit who are merely floating in the toilet bowl of America enigmatic history until the day you are finally flushed into oblivion--

Answer this question: Where are you going to get the trillions to pay for this war?

I'm waiting...

edited for clarity

[unhappycamper]

4. You'll be waiting a long time, I'm afraid. n/t

[OHdem10]

5. When talking Deficts, no one, no one mentions this as part of the

deficit. GWB deliberately borrowed from China to finance
this war.

There are a lot of patriotic Americans like me who are getting
tired of these bills never being mentioned as part of the
reason our deficit is so high.

[G_j]

6. +1000

[greencharlie]

7. sigh...

IMHO there's no DESIRE to finish this thing... If the US can defeat Nazi Germany and Japan in less than 4 years how can it be strategically frustrated by chasing insurgents in and out of caves for 8 years?

Nah... the powers that BE want to be there. For whatever reason they have... they WANT to be there.

[G_j]

8. for the military industrial complex

it's the gift that keeps on giving!

[amborin]

9. knr

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

11. Well, we wouldn't want them wasting all that money on anything useful. K&R

Health care, education, real jobs, the environment, social security, and a whole list of other "wasteful" burdens on the economy.

[G_j]

12. yep

health care for all, education for all..now that would be real national security..

Not dropping bombs and shooting people in Asia!

[Karmadillo]

13. Kick

nt