January 15, 201016 yr http://news.antiwar.com/2010/01/13/obama-to-seek-708-billion-for-wars-in-2011/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AntiwarNews+%28News+From+Antiwar.com%29 Obama to Seek $708 Billion for Wars in 2011 Request Is On Top of $33 Billion 'Emergency' Request by Jason Ditz, January 13, 2010 In a request that will likely put the call for $33 billion in “emergency” war funds for 2010 in a new light, President Obama is now planning to request at least a $708 billion military budget for fiscal year 2011. This record amount for America’s already enormous military even surpasses the Bush Administration’s largest annual expenditures for wars. The revelation came as part of the Obama Administration’s “Quadrennial Defense Review,” (QDR) which laid out the size of its planned military budgets and military goals through 2015. The QDR will reportedly plan for dramatic cuts in the cost of war past fiscal year 2011, under the assumption that the Iraq War and Afghan War won’t cost nearly so much by that point. Yet it should be noted that the Obama Administration previously laid out a plan which anticipated those savings starting in 2011, and now that it is time to actually seek the 2011 war funds it has simply been pushed back another year. The administration maintains that the Iraq pullout is “on pace” despite having removed only a handful of troops in 2009, while officials are already suggesting that the pledge to start an Afghan pullout in 2011 is probably not sincere.
January 16, 201016 yr Author Nick, I was just watching Fox News and they had Charles Krauthammer, Juan Williams, Mara Liason, and Bill Kristol talking about Haiti. Their recommendations? Juan said Haiti needs "a strong police presence", and Kristol and Krauthammer agreed the US needs to establish a permanent place for troops there to "maintain order". No mention of doctors.
January 16, 201016 yr Author Nick, I was just watching Fox News and they had Charles Krauthammer, Juan Williams, Mara Liason, and Bill Kristol talking about Haiti. Their recommendations? Juan said Haiti needs "a strong police presence", and Kristol and Krauthammer agreed the US needs to establish a permanent place for troops there to "maintain order". No mention of doctors.
January 16, 201016 yr Yes, and he started these wars. But he's continuing them and making them worse! All while pretending to be against them and for peace. Bush 2.0
January 16, 201016 yr But he's continuing them and making them worse! All while pretending to be against them and for peace. Bush 2.0 What's he supposed to do, just pull all the troops out and watch these areas tear themselves apart? I'm not saying he should have won the Nobel Prize. That was just retarded, giving to someone who is active in war and hasn't done anything really in the name of peace. But at least he's had attempts to try to start finishing these wars. Bush stuck his ass in Iraq so fast he kind of forgot to figure out what would happen after the immediate surge. Oopsie.
January 16, 201016 yr What's he supposed to do, just pull all the troops out and watch these areas tear themselves apart? I'm not saying he should have won the Nobel Prize. That was just retarded, giving to someone who is active in war and hasn't done anything really in the name of peace. But at least he's had attempts to try to start finishing these wars. Bush stuck his ass in Iraq so fast he kind of forgot to figure out what would happen after the immediate surge. Oopsie. They will tear themselves apart no matter what. A unwinnable war will always be unwinnable. We can waste more lives and billions of dollars to pull out later or cut our losses and pull out now. What if we pulled out or Vietnam after only 5 years? We would have saved copious amounts of lives and money. We are fighting a war that cannot be won with guns. Every bomb we drop creates more enemies. Every solider we send over creates more hatred for us, thus prolonging the cycle of terrorism. Our military strategy exacerbates the situation. We are fighting a new war the old way. Pull out, stop our military empire and the majority of people won't hate us and without that hate terrorist will have a hard time recruiting new members and raising money. He's not trying to finish anything. He wants to continue our military policies and the general war on terror so we can hold the world captive. Notice how were setting our sites on Yemen now.
January 16, 201016 yr What's he supposed to do, just pull all the troops out and watch these areas tear themselves apart? I'm not saying he should have won the Nobel Prize. That was just retarded, giving to someone who is active in war and hasn't done anything really in the name of peace. But at least he's had attempts to try to start finishing these wars. Bush stuck his ass in Iraq so fast he kind of forgot to figure out what would happen after the immediate surge. Oopsie. i'd have to agree with you. I would love for both of these wars to be completely over asap. The only problem is that if we leave without trying to somewhat stabilize the country it will go to shit, and be worse off not just for the people of the country but our national security. we all know iraq was a huge mistake and we should've focused only on afganistan, but there's nothing we can do about it. I think we need to stablize both countries as fast as possible, let the governments then take charge and then from there withdraw progressively (perhaps 10,000 troops per month or something). Also in general we seriously have to stop spending so much money. I mean I remember how just a few billions of dollars was considered a lot of money, but now it's like a few hundred billion is the norm. This excessive spending probably worries me the most.
January 16, 201016 yr i'd have to agree with you. I would love for both of these wars to be completely over asap. The only problem is that if we leave without trying to somewhat stabilize the country it will go to shit, and be worse off not just for the people of the country but our national security. we all know iraq was a huge mistake and we should've focused only on afganistan, but there's nothing we can do about it. I think we need to stablize both countries as fast as possible, let the governments then take charge and then from there withdraw progressively (perhaps 10,000 troops per month or something). Also in general we seriously have to stop spending so much money. I mean I remember how just a few billions of dollars was considered a lot of money, but now it's like a few hundred billion is the norm. This excessive spending probably worries me the most. well said.
January 16, 201016 yr Bush, Obama...whoever there will always be another "threat" that will be an excuse to invade or bomb another nation. The most effective strategy would be drain their supply of soldiers and money by stopping our military empire and interfering with other nations.
January 16, 201016 yr They will tear themselves apart no matter what. A unwinnable war will always be unwinnable. We can waste more lives and billions of dollars to pull out later or cut our losses and pull out now. What if we pulled out or Vietnam after only 5 years? We would have saved copious amounts of lives and money. We are fighting a war that cannot be won with guns. Every bomb we drop creates more enemies. Every solider we send over creates more hatred for us, thus prolonging the cycle of terrorism. Our military strategy exacerbates the situation. We are fighting a new war the old way. Pull out, stop our military empire and the majority of people won't hate us and without that hate terrorist will have a hard time recruiting new members and raising money. He's not trying to finish anything. He wants to continue our military policies and the general war on terror so we can hold the world captive. Notice how were setting our sites on Yemen now. i also agree with you as well...haha. I think that it is true that the more that we cause conflict the more they'll hate us. I think that we need to finish what we started or at least make the country somewhat stable and then pull out. then from there I think we need to limit/stop policing the world. If we are to interfere w/ a country (say iran on it's nuclear program), then we have to work with allies/the UN. of course ideally world peace would be amazing but it's extremely unreleastic because people will always have conflicts with each other.
January 16, 201016 yr Bush, Obama...whoever there will always be another "threat" that will be an excuse to invade or bomb another nation. The most effective strategy would be drain their supply of soldiers and money by stopping our military empire and interfering with other nations. I agree. I think the main problem with people hating us is that we interfere too much. It's not our place most of the time. It would be like having your neighbor telling you what you can or cannot do. But at the same time we always have to keep an eye on national security.
January 16, 201016 yr Author We've been in Iraq and Afghanistan now for so long, there's no excuse left. If our military hasn't had enough time, money, and people necessary to train the Iraqis and Afghanis how to use guns and defend themselves, they will never be able to. At this point, both wars are just welfare programs for people with ties to the military.
January 16, 201016 yr No. If we can have 30 more years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan we can make it stable!
January 17, 201016 yr $780 Billion is just way too much, it is even close to the total amount of circulating US Dollar paper money in the entire world. If people were to take out all of their money from bank accounts, CD's, savings, or any other type of liquid asset and didn't spend it for a few days, the economy of the world would collapse instantly.
January 17, 201016 yr $780 Billion is just way too much, it is even close to the total amount of circulating US Dollar paper money in the entire world. If people were to take out all of their money from bank accounts, CD's, savings, or any other type of liquid asset and didn't spend it for a few days, the economy of the world would collapse instantly. There was a run on America in late 2008. Foreigners were pulling out large amounts of money and the government put a limit on how much people could take out. So apparently we came close to a global bankrun on America that would have crashed the global economy. I can't figure out whether he's pleased or smug here... With his head tilted back like that, I'd say smug.
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