Bush's 2007 war budget was $53 billion more than Obama's proposed budget

[ProSense]

Obama's $192 billion war budget rivals the $245 billion request made in 2007 by President George W. Bush, after announcing that more than 20,000 combat troops would be sent to Baghdad.

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The $192 billion request includes $33 billion to pay for the troop buildup this year. The remaining $159 billion would pay for overseas military operations in the government's 2011 budget year, which begins Oct. 1.

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Some $9 billion would go toward buying more helicopters, while $2 billion would be used to almost double -- from 37 to 65 -- the number of combat air patrols by sophisticated unmanned aerial vehicles.

The money also would go to U.S. allies. Obama calls for $2 billion for Pakistan to reimburse it for operations along its Afghan border, as well as $13.6 billion to train and equip security forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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Some have been spinning a record defense budget, which includes more than just funding for war, as record war spending.

[bahrbearian]

1. Thats suppose to make it O.K.. tell me why?

[Warren Stupidity]

2. 701B dollars, that we know of, for "defense" - better known as "war".

I don't care who is president. The number is obscene.

[Orlancolon]

5. "the largest defense budget since World War II."

Feb. 1, Slate: "The Pentagon released its budget for fiscal year 2011 this afternoon, and it is enormous—much larger, even adjusting for inflation, than any budget since World War II. What's more, some numbers buried within the budget suggest that it's set to grow larger still in the coming years—to a greater extent than the White House or the Defense Department acknowledges." http://www.slate.com/id/2243297/

[ProSense]

6. There is more to it than war

People forget that there are people in the military, including the thousands of troops wounded in war who will need care.

[Warren Stupidity]

7. Whatever.

Yes of course we should provide health care for everyone as a right, including the hundreds of thousands wounded in the wars of aggression we have been carrying out for the last 50 years. We wouldn't need quite so many people in the military if we didn't maintain a global empire of garrisons around the planet, huge navies, a massive nuclear strike force, an insanely large air force, and enough armored junk to fight at least two world wars, in addition to the assorted wars we insist on fighting it seems in perpetuity. Instead of a military budget 10x anyone else's, we could probably get by on one that was merely twice as large as anyone else's.

[Clio the Leo]

3. And Bush's war $$ came from magic stockpiles that didn't exist. NT

[bahrbearian]

4. and where does Obamas come from? Thin Air