He doesn't have to worry about paying for the war. My kids do.
Posted by dj moonbat at December 20, 2006 12:30 PMThe Dem Congress will repeal the Tax Cuts for the Rich, that's how to pay for it. odds anyone?
Posted by T2 at December 20, 2006 12:52 PMThis "annual" appropriation routine has to stop right now. The majority of people no longer support this occupation, and aren't going to support Nero's escalation of violence in the upcoming "New Way Nowhere" speech.
Additional Iraq Occupation funding should now be on the basis of Friedman units, i.e. six month periods. The generals won't like it, but this is what happens when you commence an invasion/opened-ended occupation with a very large body of citizens not on board from the beginning. And lose an election over it to boot.
Don't expect anything out of this Congress if it grants Nero this additional funding for another year of status quo occupation. Appropriating money is their main leverage.
Posted by euzoius at December 20, 2006 12:57 PMThe Dem Congress will repeal the Tax Cuts for the Rich...
If, in fact, the Dems had to vote to repeal the tax cuts, I would bet that they wouldn't. But in a too-clever-by-half attempt to make the tax cuts look less fiscally damaging, the GOP built in an expiration date (they assumed they would still have the votes to extend these sunset provisions when the clock finally ran out).
So all the Dems have to do is refrain from voting to extend the tax cuts. Even that will be difficult, I'm sure, since by now the instinct to cower like beaten animals in the face of Republican criticism is firmly ingrained in the Democratic caucus. But I think they'll do it.
Posted by dj moonbat at December 20, 2006 01:03 PMat what point do the good people in this country start to realize just how detrimental this administation has been to the security of the united states?
Posted by dennis at December 20, 2006 01:16 PMThe bill is $333.33 per inhabitant of the country. That comes to $2,000 from my family alone.
Spendthrift failure!
Posted by Nobody at December 20, 2006 01:30 PM$2,000 from my family into the pockets of the warmonger war profiteers with no good coming from it, only more waste and destruction. Absolutely no added security at all either.
Posted by Nobody at December 20, 2006 01:32 PMThe annual appropriations are basically doubling each year now, with the insane militarist president now calling for an expansion of the regular ground troops as a result of this "war" of his own making.
Expand them to do what, exactly? Relieve the stress on our new permanent Mid East occupation forces? To make sure we have more troops to throw around whereever the globalising corporate elites may wish in future?
Once again, military overstretch is historically the chief cause of irreversible decline for great powers. Does anyone doubt that we are now watching this old story play out in our own country? Once our enormous, historically resilient economy falters, the floodgates will really open and repair may be impossible.
Who will stand up to these madmen? The question is unfortunately going to have to be answered very soon.
Posted by euzoius at December 20, 2006 01:39 PMThankfully this request has no effect whatsoever on the deficit. Being off-budget the money really isn't coming from the taxpayers, it's dreamed up by elves in a small building near the Lincoln Memorial. After being magically produced it's spent in secret by the tooth fairy, a mystical being you have to trust exists but aren't allowed to see. Sorta like the contracts with Halliburton.
Posted by steve duncan at December 20, 2006 01:42 PMI wonder what percentage of the new appropriation will go to corporations and partnerships of which the following persons hold interests: George H. W. Bush, Barbara Bush, George W. Bush, Neal Bush, Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and the families of these persons?
Posted by Nobody at December 20, 2006 01:45 PMjust say no
Posted by oldtree at December 20, 2006 02:26 PMIf it happens, it will be curious to see where the final 'surge' will take place? Anbar in the west? Against Sadr? Concentrate on Baghdad? Certainly not against the Kurds in the North.
But bu$h could fuck up a wet dream, so anything is possible.
This is not what Americans had in mind after the elections.
Posted by Seven of Six at December 20, 2006 02:49 PMDon't waste any time analyzing The Surge. Questions like when, how, what, etc. cannot be answered.
The purpose of the Surge is to save Bush's reputation and preserve the last shreds of an argument in support of the Iraq invasion.
There are two possibilities: either the new Democratic congress allows The Surge or it does not.
Option One: the Democrats allow The Surge. Biden, Friedman and their ilk will insist that we have to wait until The Surge is in place, then we will have to wait until The Surge gets time to work, then we will have to wait until after the 2008 presidential election. Anyone who disagrees will be marginalized, "crazy as Howard Dean," and completely ignored.
Bush will leave office insisting that "Victory in Iraq" is critical and that it is possible if only Americans have the will. The next president, no matter who it is, will withdraw from Iraq and receive 100& of the blame for what ensues.
Option Two: the Democrats do not allow The Surge. Bush and Republicans will accuse the Democrats of treason and blame them for everything that happens after. Americans, being idiots, will believe them. In 2009, when President McCain is inaugurated, he announces that he will work with both houses of congress, now controlled by Republicans, to fashion a plan for withdrawal from Iraq.
The Surge is nothing more than another propaganda campaign. The entire war, the whole thing, is a propaganda campaign. It worked and it will work again.
Americans are stupid and more than willing to believe things that are not true so long as those things make them feel good about themselves.
One of the very best movies about America is Miracle on 34th Street. I recommend watching it with the following thoughts in mind: For Kris Kringle, substitute George W. Bush, for the attorney representing him, substitute the corporate press/media, for the judge, substitute the Democrats.
Posted by James E. Powell at December 20, 2006 03:21 PMAccording to the Congressional Research Service, with this new $100 billion we'll be at $600 billion allocated directly for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which is $51 billion more than the $549 billion, adjusted for inflation, spent on Vietnam. Of course, as we all know, that figure probably doesn't even cover the direct costs, much less the indirect ones.
Posted by Meteor Blades at December 20, 2006 03:26 PMRep. Ike Skelton, incoming House Armed Services Chair, was interviewed on the PBS Newshour.
He eunthusiastically agreed with expanding the ground forces, citing various generals crying in 1995 about Clinton's "cuts" to the size of the Army. So expanding our future occupation forces has an eager ear in the House. He did point out it would cost some big money, but sure sounded like he thought it was a great investment.
As to the upcoming Dirge "plan", Skelton thought it was a "bad idea", and there was no identifiable mission, but seemed to think that the "Commander in Chief" could do whatever he wanted with his troops.
He didn't lead me to conclude that his committee will likely pose much of an obstacle to the upcoming escalation of Bush's "war" and his proposal to increase the Imperial Democracy Forces.
Posted by euzoius at December 20, 2006 04:55 PM1.2 billion dollars for every 10,000 new recruits.
16.5 billion dollars in Goldman Sachs year end bonus cash.
People of Iraq, welcome to our culture.
Posted by TIKI AL at December 20, 2006 04:59 PMWhen I think of all the people that money could have helped, instead of destroying people's lives, it makes want to cry.
Posted by Judith at December 20, 2006 05:11 PMJudith... you are so right on!
What a disgust this whole bag of crap is.
We never seem to find the money to perform positive things but we always
have the money for destruction, oppresion, disinformation.
What a pathetic mess we are..
When is the killer comet coming