US war costs report 'incorrect'

Republican lawmakers have demanded that Democrats retract a report which says the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are costing double what was thought.

Senator Sam Brownback and Congressman Jim Saxton said the study had "many factual errors" and should not stand.

They are the senior Republicans on the Joint Economic Committee (JEC), whose Democratic members wrote the report.

It said "hidden costs" had pushed the total to about $1.5 trillion - nearly twice the requested $804bn (£402bn).

Higher oil prices, the cost of care for wounded veterans and the economic cost of pulling reservists from their jobs were taken into account in reaching the new total, the report said.

Some analysts questioned some of the figures, saying they were speculative.

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Gus: Yeah... I totally agree with these righteous republicans... The extra cost of war in equipment, in wounded veterans, in dead soldiers, in petrol, in reservists being called up, etc... is far offset by weapons manufacturers employing more workers to make stuff'n'bombs...

War, as in the play "Mother Courage and her Children" by Bertold Brecht, keeps the wheels of industriousness going — despite your sons suffering a bit, from death...

Imagine for a second there'd be no theater of war somewhere for the US to explode things in... Result? A glut of explosive for the fourth of July fireworks, firms like Raytheon forced to specialise in fair-sailing boat instrumentation exclusively and... Halliburton having to make meals on wheels for oldies in retirement villages!... Not fortune making ventures, are they?... Well, yes may be, if you overcharge a bit...

This of course does not stop US families for being 20,000 dollars down the drain because of the "wars", but, after properly analysing the US subprime shonky deals, some families are ten times more in the soup than paying for their small share in a silly little war for oil.

So, Mister/madam the Democrats, please retract that erroneous report... It's an embarassment to the true warmongers who are doing as much blowing up as they can: 200,000 rounds of anmunition (some made in Israel) per insurgent killed is an honorable score showing too well that the purpose of war is not to kill people but to shoot as many bullets as are made in the factories, back home... Everyone knows that.

New York hunger levels 'rising'

Over 1.3 million people, one in six New Yorkers, cannot afford enough food, with queues at soup kitchens getting longer, anti-poverty groups say.

The New York City Coalition Against Hunger says the number of people who use food pantries and soup kitchens in the city increased by 20% in 2007.

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Gus: ...and while the idiot son spends oodles of money on his useless wars — helping his rich mates fill their pockets — useless wars supported wholeheartedly by our Johnnee, people starve or have no means to survive... The slow but similar degradation of people-support by the Howard government in Australia is leading along the same path — as warned by many charitable agencies, agencies that cannot criticise the Howard government too much otherwise their funding will get cut further... See toon at the top...

Howard out!

From the NYT

When the Pentagon on Monday unveils its proposed 2009 budget of $515.4 billion, annual military spending, when adjusted for inflation, will have reached its highest level since World War II.

That new Defense Department budget proposal, which is to pay for the standard operations of the Pentagon and the military but does not include supplemental spending on the war efforts or on nuclear weapons, is an increase in real terms of about 5 percent over last year.

By Thomas E. Ricks
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, February 3, 2008; A19

CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq-- Three separate but related wars are being waged in this country now, and the third one, against Shiite extremists, is the most worrisome, according to the commander and senior staff of the U.S. Army division patrolling Baghdad.

The first, against al-Qaeda in Iraq, a Sunni group that U.S. officials believe is foreign-led, is going well despite occasional spikes in violence, such as Friday's dual bombings of Baghdad marketplaces. Al-Qaeda in Iraq is "frustrated" but "not defeated," Maj. Gen. Jeffrey W. Hammond, commander of the 4th Infantry Division, said in an interview last week.

The second fight, against the domestic Sunni insurgency, has become dormant in many places in the past year, as about 80,000 armed men, many of them former insurgents, switched sides and came onto the U.S. payroll with groups that officers here call "Concerned Local Citizens."

The third conflict, and perhaps the most vexing for U.S. commanders, is with Shiite extremist militias. More than two-thirds of U.S. casualties are caused by roadside bombs, particularly by high-tech anti-armor devices, planted by those groups.

Overall, senior U.S. officers find the state of the wars unexpectedly good, and are allowing themselves to begin speaking optimistically. "A year ago, I didn't see any way it was going to work out to our advantage," said Col. James Rainey, the 4th Infantry Division's director of operations, who is on his third tour of duty in Iraq. The difference now, he said, is "remarkable."

A major reason for the change, he said, is the increased effectiveness of the Iraqi army and police, to which the U.S. military refers collectively as Iraqi security forces, or ISF. "The ISF, when I was over here last time, couldn't do anything," Rainey said. Now, he continued, they frequently show tactical competence. That's crucial for future security here, because as U.S. troop numbers drop by about 25,000 between now and midsummer, to roughly 130,000, Iraqi forces will be handed a greater share of the burden.

At the same time, the officers are conscious that the fighting here has morphed several times over the past five years, as adversaries have adjusted to changes in U.S. tactics. Some officers worry that various factions, taken aback by how effective U.S. operations proved in the past year after several years of frequent counterproductive effect, are lying low as they try to devise new ways to attack.

Yes Gus ....

In spite of the obscenity of that number, it's actually a conservative reflection of the stranglehold that the military-industrial has on the US: its psyche, government & treasury.

Yuk .....

How much is really in the U.S. military budget? 

As usual, it's about $200 billion more than most news stories are reporting.

For the proposed fiscal year 2009 budget, the real size is not, as many news stories have reported, $515.4 billion - itself a staggering sum - but, rather, $713.1 billion. 

Breaking Down The US Military Budget

"It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets."

— Voltaire 1771 

Newest Veterans Hit Hard by Economic Crisis

After a mortar sent Andrew Spurlock hurtling off a roof in Iraq, ending his Army career in 2006, the seasoned infantryman set aside bitterness over his back injury and began to chart his life in storybook fashion: a new house, a job as a police officer and more children.

“We had a budget and a plan,” said Mr. Spurlock, 29, a father of three, who with his wife, Michelle, hoped to avoid the pitfalls of his transition from Ramadi, Iraq, to Apopka, Fla.

But the move proved treacherous, as it often does for veterans. The job with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office fell through after officials there told Mr. Spurlock that he needed to “decompress” after two combat tours, a judgment that took him by surprise. Scrambling, he settled for a job delivering pizzas.

Mr. Spurlock’s disability claim for his back injury took 18 months to process, a year longer than expected. With little choice, the couple began putting mortgage payments on credit cards. The family debt climbed to $60,000, a chunk of it for medical bills, including for his wife and child. Foreclosure seemed certain.

While few Americans are sheltered from the jolt of the recent economic crisis, the nation’s newest veterans, particularly the wounded, are being hit especially hard. The triple-whammy of injury, unemployment and waiting for disability claims to be processed has forced many veterans into foreclosure, or sent them teetering on its edge, according to veterans’ organizations.

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But the Pentagon is fully glorious... see toon on top.