White House to request $120 billion more for wars

[Tesla]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Bush administration said Thursday it will ask Congress for $120 billion more for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and $18 billion more this year for hurricane relief.

If approved by Congress, the war money would push spending related to the wars toward a staggering half-trillion dollars.

Details of the requests are not final, but the 2007 budget proposal that President Bush will submit next week will reflect the totals for planning purposes. The president also will ask Congress to devote an additional $2.3 billion this year for prepare for a bird flu epidemic.

About $70 billion of the new war money will be requested for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan this year, bringing total spending on the two campaigns to $120 billion for the current budget year. The other $50 billion in new war money will be set aside in the 2007 budget for the first few months of the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. More money will likely be needed in 2007.


http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-02-02-war-spending_x.htm

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

1. $120 BILLION For Wars.....$18 Billion For Hurricane Relief.

Sounds equitable to me. Why should we really bother helping our own citizens?

[Nutmegger]

7. These sick

bastards don't care about anything...besides oil of course.

:grr::mad::grr:

[phylny]

2. I wish, I WISH the Democratic party and especially those running for

office would seize all of these "monetary" opportunities to use graphics to show what COULD have been done with the money that's been thrown into Iraq. And I mean, we need graphics, we need to make this a dollars and cents issue for the "other side" of Americans to understand.

1) How much more equipment and resources could our first responders have had with the billions of dollars spent in Iraq?

2) How much safer could our airports have been with the billions of dollars spent in Iraq?

3) How much more tax money could be in our pockets with the billions of dollars spent in Iraq?

4) How much more money might have been given to education with the billions of dollars spent in Iraq?

The list continues on and on....

In addition, they need graphics to show how much MORE MONEY we're paying for local taxes and for gasoline than 8 years ago, adjusted for inflation. People need to SEE THIS because their ears are closed.

[corporate_mike]

3. why not? US taxpayers will pay for anything, anytime, for any puspose

even a bridge to nowhere in Alaska :)

[abex]

4. which democrats will vote no to more war funding? who will? nt

[LSK]

5. when they release the budget deficit, is this amount included?

[jimshoes]

6. Let me just say

FUCK IRAQ already. Give Iraq back to the Iraqi's already. I expect they'll do a much better job of fixing their own country than we will. We have plenty that needs fixed here at home. New Orleans, the election system, etc.

[KansDem]

8. $500,000,000 ?!?!?

If approved by Congress, the war money would push spending related to the wars toward a staggering half-trillion dollars.

All based on one man's lie :grr:

[magellan]

9. Anyone remember Lawrence Lindsey?

He was the White House economic adviser who back in Sep 2002 estimated the cost of war with Iraq at more than $100 billion. He was then asked to resign.

Meanwhile the administration kept telling us that the war would cost far less than it would cost to continue containing Hussein. Here's some data the Repubs produced back in Jan 2003 to justify the war as opposed to continued containment:

"Even if the liberation of Iraq costs the United States $200 billion, it will be cheaper in blood and money than the previous "containment" policy, a University of Chicago business professor said Wednesday.

Professor Steven J. Davis, of the university’s Graduate Business School, says containment, including the patroling of no-fly zones, the interdicting of ships at sea and the stationing of 30,000 troops in that region, would cost the United States $380 billion over the next 20 years."

Of course the containment vs war argument was just a strawman -- BushCo were going to war no matter what. But I thought I'd remind everyone that in just under 3 years we're about to surpass that $380 billion "cost of containment" figure, and there's no end in sight.

Never mind the cost in human lives so far.

[SpiralHawk]

10. But on the Bright Side...

This "investment" of your tax dollars is bringing MASSIVE PROFYTS for Republican Oil Cronies & Mercenaries...

So let's all just shut up and eat our choco-rations, secure in the knowledge that Big BushCo loves us...

[corporate_mike]

11. As long as Democrats keep approving those spending bills

we can't say a thing :(