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U.S. Role in Libya Already Costs Hundreds of Millions (With no money to pay for it)
Fox News ^ | 3/23/2011 | fox news

Posted on 03/23/2011 3:43:10 AM PDT by tobyhill

The cost of the American and European assault on Libya already easily tops hundreds of millions of dollars, and has the potential to rise significantly if the operation drags on for weeks or months.

Coalition efforts to undermine Muammar al-Qaddafi’s air defenses and save the rebels from defeat have lasted for four nights already. If the U.S. role continues to be limited, with the Pentagon using its existing budget to cover the expense, the price tag on involvement will only rise moderately.

As of Tuesday, a U.S. defense official told Fox News the U.S. has fired 161 Tomahawk cruise missiles into Libyan territory, with 24 missiles being fired overnight Monday into Tuesday. Each missile is priced at $1 million to $1.5 million apiece and dispatched B-2 stealth bombers -- round-trip from Missouri -- to drop 2,000-pound bombs on Libyan sites.

That’s a total flying time of 25 hours, with the operating cost for one hour priced at least $10,000.

Yet those numbers only provide part of the costs. The B-2 bombers require expensive fuel -- and rely on air tankers to refuel in flight -- and probably needed parts replaced upon their return to Whiteman Air Force Base. The pilots most certainly will get combat pay.

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; Extended News; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: budget; libya; noflyzone; obama
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1 posted on 03/23/2011 3:43:13 AM PDT by tobyhill
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To: tobyhill

UN funding it?


2 posted on 03/23/2011 3:51:13 AM PDT by 4rcane
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To: tobyhill

Berlusconi / Eni S.p.A.


3 posted on 03/23/2011 3:53:41 AM PDT by PieterCasparzen (Huguenot)
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To: 4rcane

The UN doesn’t anything, they just expect US to borrow more from China.


4 posted on 03/23/2011 3:56:59 AM PDT by tobyhill
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To: tobyhill
...as predicted,it has turned in to one gigantic DUMBO cluster ****
5 posted on 03/23/2011 4:04:36 AM PDT by Doogle ((USAF.68-73..8th TFW Ubon Thailand..never store a threat you should have eliminated))
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To: 4rcane

If the rebels win, we should bill their gov’t.


6 posted on 03/23/2011 4:05:41 AM PDT by newzjunkey (Obama: nobel peace prize winner, warmonger, golfer.)
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To: tobyhill

Once again I’m reminded of an old “I Love Lucy” bit.

LUCY: About a year and a half ago Ricky wanted to go over my household account, and I was 10 dollars short.
ETHEL: So?
LUCY: Well, I borrowed 10 dollars from the club treasury so that my household account would balance.
ETHEL: Well, 10 dollars, my goodness.
LUCY: Well, you don’t understand. Ethel. That was only the beginning. From then on, I borrowed from the household account so that the treasury account would balance and then I borrowed from the treasury so the household account would balance and on and on and back and forth like a tennis game, and somewhere along the line, I lost the ball.
ETHEL: What do you mean?
LUCY: Now there’s no money in either account.


7 posted on 03/23/2011 4:06:10 AM PDT by R. Scott (Humanity i love you because when you're hard up you pawn your Intelligence to buy a drink)
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To: tobyhill

As opposed to the rest of our military adventures that are fully funded?


8 posted on 03/23/2011 4:06:40 AM PDT by Wolfie
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To: tobyhill

That may very well be BO’s/BS’s motivation. Spending beyond our means coincides with him implementing the Cloward-Piven strategy.


9 posted on 03/23/2011 4:13:21 AM PDT by Defend Liberty
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To: tobyhill

“Every six hours we have another billion-dollar deficit,” said Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., a member of the House Armed Services Committee. “This could cost us a billion dollars there, which means simply another billion-dollar debt that our kids, our grandkids and our great-grandkids are going to have to pay back.”

The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, in an analysis this month, estimated that the Libyan no-fly zone could cost $100 million to $300 million per week.

In a classified briefing for congressional staff Tuesday, officials from the State Department, Pentagon and Treasury were pressed on the cost. They declined to address the issue.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, called for Congress to de-fund military operations in Libya, which he estimated costs between $30 million and $100 million a week.

“While the administration assures us that that the U.S. will hand off its lead role to coalition partners within days, we have not been notified of long-term plans or goals following initial air strikes in the country,” Kucinich wrote in a letter to colleagues. “The timeline the president gave to Congress was summarized with one word: ‘limited.’”


10 posted on 03/23/2011 4:15:44 AM PDT by quesney
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To: quesney

Clueless
Bumbling
Huh?
Unknown
Scrambled
Empty
Discombobulated
Confused
Conflicted
Empty
Vague

nobama foreign policy???? let me count the ways...


11 posted on 03/23/2011 4:22:01 AM PDT by hal ogen (1st amendment or reeducation camp?)
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To: tobyhill

This Administration has overextended our military.
Barack Obama


12 posted on 03/23/2011 4:33:16 AM PDT by Darkwolf377 (Left FR in 2011, and I ain't comin' back! :P)
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To: tobyhill

I don’t oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war.—Barack Obama


13 posted on 03/23/2011 4:37:22 AM PDT by Darkwolf377 (Left FR in 2011, and I ain't comin' back! :P)
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To: tobyhill

Can’t they divert funds from southern border protection temporarily to pay for it?


14 posted on 03/23/2011 4:39:20 AM PDT by EGPWS (Trust in God, question everyone else)
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To: tobyhill
U.S. Role in Libya Already Costs Hundreds of Millions (With no money to pay for it)

The U.S. role in Iraq and Afghanistan cost hundreds of billions of dollars (with no money to pay for it). If one chooses the military option for any reason then money had better not be an object.

15 posted on 03/23/2011 4:43:20 AM PDT by K-Stater
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To: tobyhill

We are dead financially... we are insolvent... someone turn out the lights.

LLS


16 posted on 03/23/2011 4:45:05 AM PDT by LibLieSlayer (WOLVERINES!!!)
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To: tobyhill

And that’s on top of whatever we are currently spending on Iraq and Afghanistan, the other two prongs of our Middle East misadventures.


17 posted on 03/23/2011 4:46:38 AM PDT by Huck (Fools make feasts and wise men eat them - Poor Richard)
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To: 4rcane

>> UN funding it?

Of course not!

But no worries... Obama will sell our nuclear arsenal to his new friends in South America to pay for it.


18 posted on 03/23/2011 4:47:27 AM PDT by Nervous Tick (Trust in God, but row away from the rocks!)
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To: Huck

Why not sell an aircraft carrier to China?
This will give us the money for bombing libya for another month.


19 posted on 03/23/2011 4:53:55 AM PDT by darkside321
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To: darkside321

Better still, just leave it to the Europeans.


20 posted on 03/23/2011 4:57:20 AM PDT by Huck (Fools make feasts and wise men eat them - Poor Richard)
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