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View Full Version : Guerilla war rests on bleeding your enemy dry: The U.S. is bleeding


TheNoNamedOne
06-25-2007, 08:37 PM
We will lose the Iraq war due to growing discontent and unpopularity of the war. The home front is where it will be lost -- but we may face an even larger loss in terms of prestige, influence, and economic health because of the costs incurred from playing into the hands of those who pushed the buttons that caused us to engage them -- i.e. militant Islamics.

A weaker economy will mean smaller funds parsed out to military and intelligence agencies, and that in turn will make it even harder to fight the coming clash with Islamic forces with less recourses earmarked for future battles. In short, we are not managing our finances and they are warring not only against our men and women on the battlefield, but more deftly against our ledgers.

The costs of the war are just staggering. As of now it has reached $437,752,915,293.

But, if we were to stop fighting right now, there would still be the matter of caring for the families of the dead and wounded.


800 have lost arms, legs, fingers, toes
100 + are blind
Dozens are being kept alive on tubes and machines
100s have burn disfigurments
1000s have brain injuries
1000s have psychological disorders


The total figure is estimated between 35,000~53,000 injured in some way or other.

The costs of taking care of these injuries and supporting the families will go on for the lifetime of many of these men and women. I have to wonder if Bush and Gang calculated these costs into the costs they thought the war would ultimately be. I don't think they have. Perhaps they weren't expecting so many injured, not understanding the modern capability of saving lives on the battlefield, where just a few decades ago many with the same injuries would have died.

The cost for life time care of these vets is estimated to be $250~$650 billion dollars. Iraqi guerilla insurgents, if having read some words from the victors in Vietnam, should be elated for an injured soldier more so than a dead one. It will lead them to ultimate victory and a weakened U.S. much sooner.

TheNoNamedOne
06-26-2007, 01:33 PM
Since last night when I posted the previous post, the cost of the Iraq war has climbed to:

$437,956,156,846

an in crease of 204 million dollars -- all in just about 16 hours.

For that price, how many Pell Grants for underprivileged children could been injected into society? Remember, we are talking in just 16 hours!

I am surprised the waste doesn't outrage many -- particularly when it is an investment in a losing war we've already lost. Well, the oil industry and arms manufacturers haven't lost, or are they losing. They win big!

Oh, and so do the companies that are contracted with the Pentagon to provide special caskets for transport and burial. Oh, and so do the high tech industries that work on making better prosthetic limbs.

But hey, why care? We've already accomplished our mission. Remember?

http://bonstemps.com/Zombiebirdhouse/mission-accomplished.jpg

DoctorP
06-26-2007, 07:13 PM
Since last night when I posted the previous post, the cost of the Iraq war has climbed to:

$437,956,156,846

an in crease of 204 million dollars -- all in just about 16 hours.

For that price, how many Pell Grants for underprivileged children could been injected into society? Remember, we are talking in just 16 hours!



Ahhh but you are looking at this wrong. IF there was no war...this money would have never been printed for those pell grants that you want. I love your idea, but unfortunately the US will NEVER adopt such a progressive idea.

TheNoNamedOne
06-28-2007, 11:31 AM
Ahhh but you are looking at this wrong. IF there was no war...this money would have never been printed for those pell grants that you want. I love your idea, but unfortunately the US will NEVER adopt such a progressive idea.

I understand what you mean, Dr.P, but I don't think the money was just "printed" to pay for the war. That is too simple and that would have quickly had an impact on world inflation. No, that money was got through taxes, and where that falls short leaving us with a huge deficit, it was made up through future promises to pay back in the form of bonds and treasury notes -- of which China is a huge buyer of. Btw, how does that make us secure knowing that our government functions financially on the premise and belief that China will continue buying them? Anyways, besides the point...

Spending this enormous ammount of money, if it can be made available for spending, rests simply on a decision to do so and then selling it to the public and Congress to support it. Sure, I doubt that we'd convince Congress or the public to spend 500 billion dollars on Pell grants if there were no war, but several hundred million here or there on different projects surely is not out of the realm of what is possible.

Opportunity costs are merely a decision, and if those funds for the cost are available, they can be applied anywhere -- provided the lobbying to do so is strong enough. Our lobbying for war was quite strong. For a few hundred million dollars to be applied to Pell Grants instead of War, I don't think we'd have to lobby to such a grand level as goiing to the UN with a retired General pushing lies around in a Powerpoint Display report.

Why is it that youth let their idealism fade as they age and therefore continue to play the game of folly that their fathers played? Appeal to tradition has never brought about advance. It merely keeps the status quo.