Only if it is very special purpose, one of a kind.
Common hammers purchased in bulk cost the military about what you'd pay at Home Depot, or less.
Bogie: " We need research and engineering."
Absolutely, massive research & engineering, no argument.
"Squandering on the Iraq military is’t going to do anything to save the day"
Perhaps you know President Trump's opinions on this?
He says we should not have gone into Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein in the first place because that created a power vacuum soon filled by many nefarious forces.
But once there, Trump says we should have left an adequate force to help the new Iraqi government defend itself.
Such US forces would also help train and support the new Iraqi army.
Today US forces in Iraq have increased to barely adequate levels for their missions.
One of those is training & supporting the Iraqi army.
One result is Iraqi forces suffer 99+% of the casualties in their war against ISIS.
In that respect at least, it's US money well spent.
Bogie: "A few individuals will make lots of paper dollars but have no place to spend them."
I don't get that -- are you saying they need more Wal-Marts and Home Depots in Iraq, or in the USA?
Bogie: "What kind of sense does that make?
It has nothing to do with the constitutional mandate of national defense."
You may remember from US history, our first war against radical Islamic terrorism was under Presidents Jefferson & Madison, the Barbary War.
President Madison, you may remember, is called the Father of the Constitution and Jefferson authored the Declaration of Independence as well as originating our Bill of Rights.
In the early 1800s Jefferson & Madison sent the US Navy thousands of miles to Northern Africa to defeat Islamic terrorists, and they saw no contradiction between that and our Constitution.
In the 1800s US forces in hostile lands (i.e., Indian Territory) often used native warriors to bolster our own military strength.
So I don't see a problem with that aspect of it.
And in that Barbary War, William Eaton - US Consul to Tunis who a pal of Jefferson raised a mercenary army for the US Navy & USMC assault on Tripoli. There was a grand total of 8 US Marines in the force. The USMC even with a leader named Pressley O’Bannon are the greatest but 8 even led by the possible forerunner of Elvis Pressley can’t take a city!
So Eaton acted not only as a diplomat but in this case as a modern CIA COS, setting up, managing & executing a covert action. Probably all with his own money.