ISIS Question [?]

[H2O Man]

“I married Isis on the fifth day of May
But I could not hold on to her very long
So I cut off my hair and I rode straight away
For the wild unknown country where I could not go wrong.”
-- Bob Dylan; Isis

Question: Can the US afford to go to war against Isis, without a high risk of going bankrupt?

It seemed that one of Usama bin Laden’s goals was to destroy the American economy, much as happened to the former Soviet Union. A thinking person could objectively question if the billions of dollars spent in the “war on terrorism:, from 2001 on, might have been better invested in other avenues.

I ask the above question not anticipating a “right” or “wrong” answer, but rather, for your opinion. Thank you.

[NYC_SKP]

1. Our economy, in no small part due to our military budget, is on an unsustainable road to ruin.

Will action against ISIS be the final straw?

I don't think that it will so much as it's representative of the bigger, and systemic, problem that we've had over several decades:

Poverty and militarization, two thirds of the triple evils named by Dr. King, reveal our collective values.

Every year, more funds to the military and less funding for infrastructure and social programs.

If not ISIS, then some other damned thing will come along that we'll convince ourselves we must fight.

Perpetual war.

[kentuck]

2. "Counter-terrorism" or "war"?

The warmongers are not happy that the Administration is calling it "counter-terrorism". They want to call it a "war". Can anyone guess why?

[GummyBearz]

3. No

We have been bankrupt for years. Whats another few hundred billion in debt going to matter?

[jwirr]

4. One of my favorite books is "The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Powers" by Paul Kennedy and then

follow that up with "The Sorrows of Empire" by Chalmers Johnson.

I think that we are already going for broke.

One of the main symptoms of overstretch is the failure to keep up the infra-structure, the safety net and the home economy. We are already spending too much on military and we do not get any return for this kind of spending. If we spend the money on our own country we get back such things as good roads, alternative energies, educated people, etc. When we spend money on military we only have excess equipment in the end to (1) hand out to police departments that may use it against our own people or (2) we park it somewhere in the desert to rust or (3) we leave it in "Iraq" for someone like ISIS to steal and use against us again.

[groundloop]

5. Good point.... I read that we've spent over $30,000 per person on war since 9/11

My kids are in college right now, I'm helping them pay as much as I can but sadly they're still going to be saddled with a large amount of student loan debt. When I think that our families share of paying for those wars could have fully paid for both kids educations I just cry.

Also, we have military bases in well over 100 countries around the world - why? Just maybe that military presence contributes to the hatred of America and helps breed terrorists who want to harm us.

[wandy]

6. I guess the first question is do we need to go to war with ISIS...............

Oh, sure they "sound" like a bunch of mean motor scooters and bad go getters. They "sound" like they are hell bent on world domination. Hell they even "sound" like they have Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Then and again, "all I know is what I read in the papers".

Are we being lied to again? It would not be the first time.
Motive does exist other than making the world safe for democracy. How many no bid contracts will Hallenburton profit from this time.
Will Boeing, GE and a host of other Military Industrial Complex welfare recipients be the only ones to benefit from this war.
Are we again trading blood for the sake of British Petroleum?

It would not be the first time corporate media sold us a bill of goods.
How many people believe that Obama issued a stand down order in the attack on Benghazi?
How many people believe that that water boarding is not torture?
How many people believe that the IRS only targeted the Tea Party?
How many people believe Josie's tale that Darren Wilson murdered Michael Brown in self defense?

"How many roads must a man walk down".
-- Bob Dylan

If only I could believe just half of what I read in the paper then I might have an answer.

At the time, we also could not afford WW 2.

[kentuck]

7. Off the Desire album - one of his best...

in my opinion.

http://vimeo.com/61341838

[H2O Man]

8. It was his

best-selling LP, at least at the time. I'm pretty partial to it, for the song about Rubin.

[kentuck]

9. Didn't he break up with his wife..?

For his little fiddle player on the album?

[JEB]

10. Would it not make our country strong

if we encouraged our citizens to become educated by providing it for free?