War

In Iran Crisis, Iraq And Afghanistan Risk Becoming Collateral Damage : NPR

|

Opinion: In Iran Crisis, Iraq And Afghanistan Risk Becoming Collateral Damage : NPR

The long-term ramifications of the killing of Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani by a U.S. drone strike remain to be seen. It appears we have walked back from the brink of war between Iran and the U.S., at least for now, as both countries acknowledge the high costs of continuing down that path.

However, as this high-stakes situation plays out, the distinct danger is that Iraq and Afghanistan — the two fragile countries flanking Iran — will become collateral damage, rolling back hard-earned progress and prolonging two already drawn-out wars.

NPR

|

Eisenhower’s Military-Industry Complex Warning, 50 Years Later : NPR

The difference, Bowman says, is that before the late 1950s, companies such as Ford built everything from jeeps to bombers -- then went back to building cars. But that changed after the Korean War.

Bowman says that it's important to note that during the Cold War, the U.S. military didn't draw down its troops like it did after World War II.

Most Veterans Say America’s Wars Are a Waste. No One’s Listening to Them. | The New Republic

|

Most Veterans Say America’s Wars Are a Waste. No One’s Listening to Them. | The New Republic

That’s the main takeaway from the Pew Research Center’s latest rolling poll of U.S. veterans, published Thursday, in which solid majorities of former troops said the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria were not worth fighting. The gaps between approval and disapproval were not even close to the poll’s 3.9 percent margin of error; barely a third of veterans considered any of those conflicts worthwhile:

No to war with Iran

|

No to war with Iran…💥

Part of being an adult is tolerating and working with awful people that really don’t deserve anything positive for their bad behavior. But often it’s beneficial to work with evil as the costs of addressing evil is often higher than ignoring it.

Iran is an obnoxious bear out in the Middle East that occasionally does terrible things but mostly is content to avoid significant conflict with the United States. The same is true with the United States – the cost of destabilizing the Middle East would be significant to the United States. The most obvious impacts to every day Americans would be greatly escalated energy prices and increased police presence in public places but its unlikely to limited to that. There would be an enormous financial cost to the federal budget, leading to cuts to domestic programs and both American and Iranian lives destroyed along with damaged infrastructure.

With our own country facing significant domestic needs, I believe that should be our focus. Middle Eastern stability is less important now than in decades past with strong United States oil production and no threat of communism any more, but we shouldn’t poke the bear of Iran and unnecessarily upset the balance of power in Iran.

While I didn’t attend today’s protest downtown on the war, I will continue to speak out and will attend future protests. ✊

Financial cost of the Iraq War – Wikipedia

|

Financial cost of the Iraq War – Wikipedia

War is very expensive for taxpayers ...

- FY2003 Supplemental: Operation Iraqi Freedom: Passed April 2003; Total $78.5 billion, $54.4 billion Iraq War

- FY2004 Supplemental: Iraq and Afghanistan Ongoing Operations/Reconstruction: Passed November 2003; Total $87.5 billion, $70.6 billion Iraq War

- FY2004 DoD Budget Amendment: $25 billion Emergency Reserve Fund (Iraq Freedom Fund): Passed July 2004, Total $25 billion, $21.5 billion (estimated) Iraq War

- FY2005 Emergency Supplemental: Operations in the War on Terror; Activities in Afghanistan; Tsunami Relief: Passed April 2005, Total $82 billion, $58 billion (estimated) Iraq War

- FY2006 Department of Defense appropriations: Total $50 billion, $40 billion (estimated) Iraq War.

- FY2006 Emergency Supplemental: Operations Global War on Terror; Activities in Iraq & Afghanistan: Passed February 2006, Total $72.4 billion, $60 billion (estimated) Iraq War

- FY2007 Department of Defense appropriations: $70 billion(estimated) for Iraq War-related costs

- FY2007 Emergency Supplemental (proposed) $100 billion

- FY2008 Bush administration has proposed around $190 billion for the Iraq War and Afghanistan

- FY2009 Obama administration has proposed around $130 billion in additional funding for the Iraq War and Afghanistan.

- FY2010 Obama administration proposes around $159.3 billion for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.