Posted on 02/14/2005 10:16:27 AM PST by CitizenHelper
WASHINGTON - President Bush was poised to officially ask Congress Monday for an estimated $82 billion to cover the costs of continuing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and a myriad of other internationally related expenses, including training Iraqi security forces and aiding victims of the tsunami.
The White House was to send the supplemental budget request to Capitol Hill late Monday, White House press secretary Scott McClellan told reporters.
Included in the request is $74.9 billion for the Defense Department, including $5 billion for transforming Army divisions and brigades and $5.7 billion for training and equipping Iraqi military and police, according to a federal official familiar with the supplemental.
The remaining money in the supplemental request includes $950 million to help areas affected by the recent tsunami in the Indian Ocean; $350 million to aid the Palestinians; $400 million to reward nations that have taken political and economic risks to join U.S.-led coalitions in Iraq and Afghanistan; money to help build a U.S. embassy in Baghdad; reconstruction funds for Afghanistan; and money for the Darfur region of western Sudan where a 2-year-old civil conflict has left tens of thousands off people killed and more than 2 million displaced.
In a written statement on this issue earlier, President Bush had said the special appropriation would support U.S. troops and help the United States "stand with the Iraqi people and against the terrorists trying desperately to block democracy and the advance of human rights."
The Army wants to use the $5 billion to convert 33 brigades and regiments — about 30 of which are organized into 10 divisions — into a force of 43 to 48 brigades that would operate more independently.
(Excerpt) Read more at story.news.yahoo.com ...
Well medicare is still a form of welfare and it's still BS that they are on it.
That's why some HMOs are now looking seriously into outsourcing your operation and you to India for some Indian quack to do the butcher's work and then fly you back after you recooperate there.
We maybe safer now, but wait till these govts are replaced by far far worse ones. It is not a matter of if but when. You think spending money on them will buy us their love and maybe they wouldn't fly planes into our buildings. Money can't buy you love, and with terrorists are concerned your life. And when will this gravy train stop? Till Iraq and Afghanistan will be on their feet? This must be a joke.
I am no smarter than you are, but definitely more grounded in reality. You can hope and feel safe all you want, it wouldn't alter the reality.
"Then why not put into the regular budget and cut some worthless pork to offset the additional spending?"
Have you heard of the line item veto? Bush does not have this. He can recommend a budget, but Congress holds the purse strings. That means Congress can take that $82 billion and spend it anywhere and everywhere but the military and Bush would only be able to veto the whole budget or accept the whole budget. He put this up as a supplemental to seperate it from all the rest so it would have a better chance of passing. Congress needs to cut the pork. The President can not.
"If they are arguing that we ought to cut spending so that w don't have to borrow hundreds of billions of dollars a year"
W is not the responsible for cutting spending, Congress is. Contact your US Representative and tell him/her to cut the spending.
"Iraq's population 25,374,691 (July 2004 est.)
At $169 Billion dollars we could have given every man, women and child ballpark $6.5 million dollars each and bought the country.
A family of 4 would receive $24 million dollars."
I think you misplaced a decimal. Try $6.5 thousand per person in Iraq.
"The only reason I subscribed to the war because I thought we would get some cheap oil."
OH, so you are the one that wanted to go to war for oil.
"According to the CIA, Iraq has 114 billion barrels in proved reserves. At $40/barrel, that is over 4 trillion bucks. Why do they need our money?
Maybe because Saddam stole all the money that they had, and the terrorists have been destroying the wells, pipelines and refineries since we went in.
Will they at least pay us back at some point?
Are you suggesting that we charge them for our safety? Or do you still not understand that this was all about US safety?
Are you joking? We have been spreading democracy and freeing Iraq from a brutal dictatorship. Haven't you heard? It is as much for Iraq as it is for you and me. Iraq better pay off this war debt. Trust me, if they had to pay us for their security that we are now providing and had to satisfy the international bond holders, the insurgency would be long gone. They have over 5 trillion of oil reserve. They don't deserve a penny of US taxdollars.
But if that's the way you want to live, more power to you. Just don't keep calling those of us who disagree with you fools. Perhaps it is just that some of us grasp a vision that doesn't exist on a piece of graph paper or a book on economics. The hard cold facts that you see don't always add up to 'reality,' because sometimes 'reality' is altered by the indomitable human spirit, and the will and working of the Almighty God.
I'm personally glad the Founding Fathers weren't mired in your kind of 'realism.' Because if they were, we wouldn't be living in the free country we enjoy today. Vision, econ.....
(And my son, who came back from Iraq in April would agree wholeheartedly with your son on the Bahamas invasion thing..... :)
Please tell your son THANK YOU from a grateful nation who appreciate the valor of what he has done, and the justness of the cause! (Even if some around here think it's just a waste of their money.....)
Actually their vision was well-grounded in reality. They told us not to meddle in internal affairs of Europe, restricted the size and scope of the federal govt, and gave power to the people. Our present federal govt does the reverse of all of those. I do appreciate your thoughts and prayers though. I sincerely hope I am wrong and you are right.
Nice try. But Medicare is not Social Security and recent immigrants do not receive Social Security payments without making contributions.
Working Late! Thanks For The Fix!
I agree. A lot of money is needed for defense now. Going into Afghanistan and Iraq were brilliant moves under the circumstances. Anyone who understands defense, geography, situations and intentions around the Middle East knows that. Although some people are ignorant of most of what they need to know in order to make any informed decision, many people are choosing sides and identity associations. Some are up-front about what they want, and others use straw men to argue while hiding their pet agendas.
Most leaders and peoples in the world now appear to believe that they should have very strong opinions about Israel, while Israel is a tiny speck on the map of the Middle East. The world political situation is getting exceedingly weird.
Remember We are the Greatest nation in the world just this list alone proves that lets see any other country stand up and do for another country the way we do
It would never happen this will come out in our favour in the end it always does one way or another the United States has always been rewarded for its good deeds weather we have seen them outwardly or subtly we have been blessed and we are better for it !
Thanks, Ohio. And send my highest regards to your own son.
So far as the Bahamas, I think he'd prefer they leave the beaches and the babes intact...:>)
I agree witn you on the $350 mil to the palis.. It is wrong.. Yes it is expensive, but if we sit on our butts and do nothing now. The cost is going to be higher..
"If you don't like the decisions of your elected representative government, tough ****, pay your taxes like everybody else or get the hell out of my country."
It's NOT your country and the day I take orders from you will be a cold day in hell. Don't like it? Tough ****.
In Afghanistan, the very diverse tribal people were being ruled by a brutal regime, and we worked alongside the Northern Alliance and other Afghan people to rid that country of its tyranny. We did invade, though massive groundtroops were not necessary, and very few lives were lost. Very, very different from Japan.
Each enemy country in our history has been dealt with in a different way because each of them is a different situation which requires a different solution.
We won't ever agree here, econ, not because one of us is naive, or either of us is a fool, but because we see the world through different eyes. You, and many others on this thread see it in dollars and cents, through the prism of the wallet in your own back pocket, and I see it through the Biblical worldview that each person on earth has been made in God's image, and therefore is deserving of the respect and help from the most powerful, wealthy, benign country on earth. Our poorest poor is richer than the middle class in almost every other country on earth.
As a conservative (and I AM a fiscal conservative), I am not talking about throwing money at people or governments in reckless foreign aid, as we have done so often in the past. I think we should completely deny any financial aid to any country (i.e. France and Germany) who oppose us.
BUT........what we are talking about in this particular spending request, is money for the freedom of people who have been brutalized, the stabilization of their countries, and yes, the safety and protection of the American people.
Thanks for the good conversation, econ. Perhaps we can meet sometime on a thread in which we agree. I have the sense that we agree on quite a few things.
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