Saturday, November 14, 2009

Another, yet another, WTF moment...

You know what "WTF" means, I'm not going to spell it out. You might note that I don't cuss often but it seems appropriate here. High Costs Weigh on Troop Debate for Afghan War is the cause of that "moment". What peckerwood is so smart that he thinks $40-50 Billion (with a "B") is expensive when you've committed to or are trying to commit to throwing away $2-12 TRILLION (with a "T") through stimulus, health care "reform", cap-and-tax, and so forth?

Mr. Barack "Bow Down" Obama, let me lay it out for you.
1. Is it important to be in Afghanistan? You said yes.
2. Will it take more troops? You said yes. Your hand-picked general said yes.
So you need to either send the troops or do the equivalent of dropping your drawers, bending over and taking one for the good of all and pulling ALL the soldiers the hell out of Afghanistan. You are so very good and bending over. You did it for the Saudis, you did it for the Japanese, you can do it for yourself. Go ahead Barry, get it over with.

The latest internal government estimates place the cost of adding 40,000 American troops and sharply expanding the Afghan security forces, as favored by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top American and allied commander in Afghanistan, at $40 billion to $54 billion a year, the officials said.

Even if fewer troops are sent, or their mission is modified, the rough formula used by the White House, of about $1 million per soldier a year, appears almost constant.

So even if Mr. Obama opts for a lower troop commitment, Afghanistan’s new costs could wash out the projected $26 billion expected to be saved in 2010 from withdrawing troops from Iraq. And the overall military budget could rise to as much as $734 billion, or 10 percent more than the peak of $667 billion under the Bush administration.

Such an escalation in military spending would be a politically volatile issue for Mr. Obama at a time when the government budget deficit is soaring, the economy is weak and he is trying to pass a costly health care plan.

Labels: Military, Politics