The One Trillion Dollar War

Today, as will soon be announced by The White House and Congress, the President is expected to demand yet another 46 billion dollars for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This, on top of the request just made recently of almost 150 billion dollars, will bring the total amount to 200 billion dollars, give or take a billion or two. Why quibble right? Where this money will come from is anyone's guess, because guess what folks? We are dead broke. The Treasury Department's own people say so. We are so deep in debt, because of this unholy crusade in Iraq, that your grandchildren will be paying the bill, and possibly even their kids too.

This callous, cold, and unrelenting bankrupting of our nation has caused so much damage here at home, that one has to consider why Congress would even consider giving more money to the people who can't account for 12 billion dollars in cash that was flown into Baghdad Airport back in 2003. It just disappeared, remember? No one has any clue what happened to the money, and thanks to Paul Bremer, we'll never find out either. He was the genius who gave blanket immunity to American corporations that operate in Iraq. Ahhh, you'd forgotten about all of this hadn't you? Did I catch you taking a nap?

In this latest request, intended to perpetuate this boondoggle, there's little tidbits and perks for non military purposes also. Such as the State Department's dire need for 550 million bucks to fight drug trafficking in Mexico and Central America. What? Do you guys need more planes to help fly the stuff in or something? 375 million dollars will go to the West Bank and Gaza, on top of the money we've already given, that no one seems to be able to account for either. And then there's the 239 million dollars for 'diplomatic costs' in Iraq that the State Dept. says it needs, over and above the money already allocated for just this purpose.

Remember back in the Reagan days? Mrs. Reagan had a slogan that she had everyone saying to the children of America concerning the use of drugs. Comparing the use of drugs and the freewheeling spending of this 'conservative' administration, I say that Congress should use that slogan in the case for this new funding demand from the Insane Asylum on Pennsylvania Avenue. "Just say no."

Looked at another way, they try to trivialize the amount being spent. They concoct numbers to make it appear as though all they have spent so far is roughly 486 billion dollars, when the reality of the situation is that we have already spent closer to 3/4 of a trillion dollars. This almost 200 billion more would make this the 1 trillion dollar war, and guess who's footing the bill? Yep. You are. As our infrastructure falls apart, our borders lay wide open, vetoes for domestic programs are the norm, we shovel more and more money into this bottomless pit, as our own people here at home fight amongst each other. Our free nation is starting to become beholden to so many other countries, that we may as well change the name of our own nation to the Indebted States of America. No more money Mr. Bush. And Congress. Just say NO. Batmanchester