We have been discussing the trillions of dollars spent on Iraq and Afghanistan while we cut environmental, scientific, and educational programs on the state and federal levels. Now, we are only a couple of weeks into the newest war against Islamic State but we have already spent an estimated $1.1 billion. Of course, President Obama has stated that he does not require any congressional approval for the war, which has been described by his Administration as having an indefinite duration. In the meantime, our latest war has been a bonanza for weapons manufacturers, including a $251 million deal to buy more Tomahawks from Raytheon Co after we unloaded on the Islamic State.
While it has certainly helped domestically as a political matter, the air campaign does not appear to have made much a difference as a military matter. The Islamic State has continued to gain ground against opposing forces. In the meantime, we are using enormously expensive missiles like the Tomahawk which cost more than $1.5 million each. We unloaded almost 50 Tomahawks and other missiles at a cost of $62 million alone. The sight of such missiles taking out our own Humvees and relatively small targets leaves many scratching their heads about the logic of the campaign.
The cost currently is estimated at about $10 million a day. Of course, my children are going to classes with 35-40 kids in a class because Fairfax cannot hire more teachers and our bridges are increasingly being found to be dangerous for lack of repairs. However, like a MasterCard commercial, the political value of news images of buildings or Humvees exploding is priceless during an election year.
Source: Yahoo
Darren…do you know if it was the embedded automatic downloading PDF file that caused the glitch?
Oh, and in passing, my post around 7:35 for “happypappies” is awaiting freedom from the dungeon.
Aridog, it could be a possibility with the PDF but I don’t know for sure if that is an automatic spam element. Perhaps removing the http:// or https:// or www .example.com before it and just starting it with something.com/…. might work, try testing it.
Dang …. that’s what I gits for trying to help Max-1 feel better. 🙂
Eric,
Have you already addressed any impact “The Sykes-Picot Agreement : 1916” might have had on the rise of groups like AQ and ISIS?
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/sykes.asp
Oops! A post went in the black hole. Help. Honest it was not porn or personal….actually somewhat in agreement with “happypappies”….which might be a shock to him, so its worth retrieval. Please 🙂
happypappies said …
It is ridiculous to compare Ignorant Terrorists to the Polished War Machine Hitler had going.
You will get no argument from me on the structural comparison…there simply isn’t one. However, my point is that these rebel conglomerates are equally dangerous…maybe more so, due to their apparent (to western eyes) disorganization. Compare their organization to what we kids did in the late 40’s and early 50’s (we were retarded)….get some mercury and place it on a hard surface, then smash it with a hammer…pieces scatter everywhere, but in the end wind up back in the same bubble. It is impossible to contain any one of them or group of them, as they will simply return to the hydra headed monster tribal religious wars always do.
That is how I perceive the ME and all its players. Were it not for Israel, a nation I love and respect, I’d advocate for turning most of the ME into glass. You do not win by destroying the will to resist and fight, you do it by destroying the means to do so…all of them.
Aridog, I retrieved your comment at 9:34.
“Hannelori” …. Hitler may have said it, but if so, he was copying others, long after the term was in common usage…notably by Gen William Tecumseh Sherman, for the swath through Georgia to the sea, and Gen Phillip Sheridan, who had to persuade Lincoln it was necessary as he assaulted the Shenandoah Valley, in the US Civil War. German Gen. Erich Ludendorff, wrote the tome “Der Totale Krieg” circa 1935….so he might get credit for first published use of the exact words. The concept itself dates back to Genghis Khan, both as strategy and tactic. .
Hitler was said to be the very best General the Allied American, Russian, Free French, Free Polish, British, and sundry others, ever had…as he was that poor a tactical and strategic leader. Had he had any sense he’d have let FM Erich von Manstein, Col Gen. Heinz Guderian, and FM Erwin Rommel, run things military. Hitler himself had no concept of “Total War” except as he quoted the term from Ludendorff
LOL! The terrorists are ignorant? Remind me how many years it took to defeat that “polished” Nazi machine (and the Japanese and the Italians) and how many years did it take to defeat those ignorant terr…………oops, not done yet.
Olly – ignorant terrorists – think about what we did to stop the Nazi’s and the Japs……Then get back to me about who is ignorant
Wasn’t it Hitler that called for “Total War”?
Max-1 …in other words, I should go to my lovely Win 7 Pro “Downloads” folder and really read them. Okay. I’ll do that.
As a long time military soul and subsequently a “fed” I just love me those dot gov and dot mil websites … sort of….if they don’t make me go blind from the blarney 🙂
PS: I don’t mind websites putting up Adobe Acrobat files, but I do wish they’d give a yea or nay on the auto-download…man that is one vulnerable hole in Win 7 I have to fix.
Back on topic, the cost of this almost war against ISIL/ISIS or whatever.
I am at a point that as a veteran of Vietnam and the DMZ (Han Estuary) in Korea, where I think I’ve seen enough American blood shed, in fact my life began in 1942 and here we are, as always, at war somewhere, 72 years later. Now thee’s a WTF of all WTF’s? I understand the need to resist and understand both sides, all sides, of the debate of today as expressed here, today …and I honestly cannot pick one…other than to dispense with the crazy stuff.
In my time I’ve noted a couple odd things. One, they we westerners never seem to “get it” about insurgencies and how they are hydra headed and as soon as you think you’ve got one head gone, two more pop up. True in Vietnam, back to 1066, in fact, long before the French got involved, let alone us, the Tonkinese and Annamese were fighting for the conquest of Cochin-China (Saigon area) against either the Chinese or the Khmers of Cambodia…who actually inhabited much of the Cochin-Chinese area including the delta. Then came the rest…up through the Viet Minh who literally destroyed their political opposition as they sought our attention, since they were our allies in WWII. How’d all that turn out, eh?
In this middle eastern morass it is very similar, even more tribal, and as yet, no single entity has full control…they’re all buddies today and slitting others’ throats tomorrow. And we, again, are in the middle of it all. The weak horse/strong horse effect analogy some others have mentioned is definitely at play in the ME….and living among a 90% Arab Muslim neighborhood as I do, with friends here, I am no closer to know what is up…because even they do not know. Most are refugees or one kind or another, going back in my town some 100+ years. They mostly want to survive, but many live in a fear of being singled out as a traitor to their race, tribe, faith, even their original birth towns.
Mostly I am tired of war…at the same time I know there is only one kind that wins…and that is Total War in Gen Sherman’s best vernacular. It is a dilemma I hope those younger than me solve, because if you don’t…you will all die long before your time.
Airdog
Um… No porn.
Just war docs.
Airdog
Yup. My day to be the WordPress target.
I feel like its pin the tail on the donkey… Er honkey in my instance… LOL
Catching up now, here’s this:
Nick Spinelli sez…
Calling someone a “Dick” is uncivil… Unless being correct is the new definition of being a Dick.
Nothing “uncivil” about my name, which is, as posted before, Richard (DICK) Thompson. That is how my signature block reads as well, as those who’ve exchanged emails know. Fact is I am rather fond of it…even when it is rendered Dick*ead. There is no where near enough time left today for me to relate how many aspersions I’ve heard … nor would it worthwhile. Hey, at least Mom didn’t name me “Sue”…:-)
I do like your conclusion it is the new term for being correct.
Max-1 …my guess on that url is that is one of those that automatically downloads a pdf file to your computer…which I now have on mine. Thank very much 🙂 Hope it isn’t porn, dude…just saying….I’ll look it up later.
Max-1 noted …
Oops, It appears the website is moderating all my posts. Is it just me?
Nope, not just you…but you did somehow (it is always a mystery…not always the obvious like multiple links) fall in to the worm hole by some tiny thing or another, which automatically in course makes all of your subsequent posts fall in to the same worm hole until a moderated pulls them out…then you’re good to go until the next time.
Darren does a pretty fine job fixing this stuff here, but it has been problematic elsewhere. Not everywhere has a Darren. I imagine JT does as well. I was banned from another legal blog for mentioning this facet of WordPress and suggesting, too bluntly, by email, not in a post, that proprietor get help from someone we both know who runs a good blog without the difficulties…e.g., they’ve mastered WordPress…no easy task.
Rest assured, unless you use foul language or some other thing like multiple links or embeds, you are just selected for the fire drill because it is JUST your turn.
When it your turn, it just is…. 🙂
Can anyone explain why this website is blocking this link
http: //ww w.st at e.go v/doc ume nts/or gani zati on/122 074.p df
(remove spaces for link)
I’ve tried five times to post this link… BLOCKED
Agreement
Between the United States of America and the Republic of Iraq
On the Withdrawal of United States Forces from Iraq and the
Organization of Their Activities during Their Temporary Presence in
Iraq
http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/122074.pdf
(THIRD attempt because the first TWO just disappeared)
Eric
Agreement
Between the United States of America and the Republic of Iraq
On the Withdrawal of United States Forces from Iraq and the
Organization of Their Activities during Their Temporary Presence in
Iraq
http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/122074.pdf
You need to blame Obama for failing to NOT follow the Bush Administration’s withdrawal agreement when you should be mad AT the Bush Administration for failing to secure troops in Iraq.
Max-1, I retrieved your comment at 7:36. (has PDF file)
(second attempt because the first just disappeared)
Eric
Agreement
Between the United States of America and the Republic of Iraq
On the Withdrawal of United States Forces from Iraq and the
Organization of Their Activities during Their Temporary Presence in
Iraq
http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/122074.pdf
You need to blame Obama for failing to NOT follow the Bush Administration’s withdrawal agreement when you should be mad AT the Bush Administration for failing to secure troops in Iraq.
Eric
Agreement
Between the United States of America and the Republic of Iraq
On the Withdrawal of United States Forces from Iraq and the
Organization of Their Activities during Their Temporary Presence in
Iraq
http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/122074.pdf
So it’s Obama’s failure in NOT following the Bush Administrations agreement to withdraw?
Your argument should be leveled AT the Bush Administration for being so weak kneed and failing to secure forces… But whateve’s…