Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Iraq: Costs: Some of them hidden
At the end of December, Congress approved $70 billion in bridge funding—a down payment to cover the gap between the beginning of the fiscal year and the passage of the actual appropriation bill—to keep financing the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Legislators at the time were still chewing on the rest of President George W. Bush’s request for a fiscal year 2008 war budget of $196 billion. Should that funding be appropriated—and if recent history is any guide, it certainly will—then the total price tag for America’s present wars will rise to at least $822 billion, approximately 80 percent of which will be spent on Iraq. That surpasses the cost of the Vietnam War ($670 billion in inflation-adjusted dollars). And the Iraq portion dwarfs the $50 billion to $60 billion cost predicted at the outset of the war by Mitch Daniels, then director of the Office of Management and Budget.
These runaway costs do not include a single dollar from the Pentagon’s annual operating budget, which in 2008 reached a whopping $481 billion. If the war were being accounted for based on a rational, transparent budget process instead of an opaque and politicized shell game, Americans would be painfully aware that we are now in the seventh year of what the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has called a $1 trillion war.
How much money is $1 trillion? Enough to pay for the entire 1976 federal budget, adjusted for inflation. Enough to write a check for $37,500 to every Iraqi man, woman, and child. Enough to buy 169,492 Black Hawk helicopters, or 455 stealth bombers. Enough, in nominal terms, to pay for the entire federal government from 1789 to 1957. And it’s 10 times more than what specialists predict it would take to eradicate malaria once and for all. http://reason.com/news/printer/125438.html
Post 9/11: More Surveillance and warrants, fewer prosecutions: Makes sense, since the number of terrorists that threaten us has been consistently exaggerated since 9/11
The emphasis on spy programs [] is starting to give pause to some members of Congress who fear the government is investing too much in anti-terrorism programs at the expense of traditional crime-fighting. Other lawmakers are raising questions about how well the FBI is performing its counter-terrorism mission.
....Even some former government officials concede many intelligence investigations fail to yield evidence of a serious threat to the U.S. "Most of these threats ultimately turn out to be wrong, or maybe just the investigating makes them go away," said Washington lawyer Michael Woods, former head of the FBI national security law unit. "A lot more information is going to pass through government hands, and most of that is going to be about people who turn out to be innocent or irrelevant." http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-justice12-2008may12,0,4309444.story?track=rss.
Growing Interest in Nukes: At least 40 developing countries are hoping to commence nuclear power programs. Since some of these countries are in the Middle East and have access to ample supplies of oil and natural gas, the burgeoning interest is not only due to higher oil prices.
At least 40 developing countries from the Persian Gulf region to Latin America have recently approached U.N. officials here to signal interest in starting nuclear power programs, a trend that concerned proliferation experts say could provide the building blocks of nuclear arsenals in some of those nations.
At least half a dozen countries have also said in the past four years that they are specifically planning to conduct enrichment or reprocessing of nuclear fuel, a prospect that could dramatically expand the global supply of plutonium and enriched uranium, according to U.S. and international nuclear officials and arms-control experts.
Much of the new interest is driven by economic considerations, particularly the soaring cost of fossil fuels. But for some Middle Eastern states with ready access to huge stocks of oil or natural gas, such as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the investment in nuclear power appears to be linked partly to concerns about a future regional arms race stoked in part by Iran's alleged interest in such an arsenal, the officials said. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/11/AR2008051102212_pf.html
Asia: Cyclones, Earthquakes…and Bombings: Amidst incredible devastation, bombings in India that are said to be at regular intervals.
Seven bombs exploded Tuesday night in a crowded and ancient section of the northwestern Indian city of Jaipur, killing at least 60 people and seriously injuring scores of others, officials said.
No group immediately took responsibility for the attacks, and it was not clear what the motive might be.
Government counterterrorism analysts say that attacks like these have become more common -- often occurring every three to five months -- in Indian cities in recent years and appear to be carried out by disgruntled Muslim youth with help from groups in Pakistan. They are intended to deepen sectarian divisions between Hindus and Muslims and often occur in mixed neighborhoods, near mosques or temples. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/13/AR2008051301132_pf.html
Bush Heads to the Middle East: Exquisite timing by Junior
President Bush called embattled Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert an 'honest man' Monday even as a corruption probe of the former Jerusalem mayor widened.
"With a new poll showing that most Israelis believe Olmert is a crook, the growing scandal threatened to overshadow Bush's visit Tuesday to mark the 60th birthday of the Jewish state and promote peacemaking with the Palestinians. . . .
"Last week, Olmert admitted he had accepted hundreds of thousands of campaign dollars in cash-stuffed envelopes from Long Island businessman Morris Talansky.
"But he denied any wrongdoing and said he'd resign if indicted." http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2008/05/13/2008-05-13_bush_ehuds_honest_despite_rap.html
CAMPAIGN:
Leaving aside the already decided presidential races, Mississippi has the most noteworthy race, as the Democrats try to take a traditionally- and overwhelmingly- Republican seat. With over 89% of the vote in, it’s apparent that Travis Childers will win, even though the GOP has used ads to portray him as a supporter of the Black Devil, ‘Barack Obama-Pastor Wright.’
West Virginia: Didn’t matter at all, as Obama gained twice as many super delegates this week as Clinton gained in the Mountaineer state. Then, she gave what Terry McAuliffe said was to be ‘one of the greatest speeches ever.’ If not spectacular, it touched all the bases Clinton needed to touch, beginning with ‘send me more money! Plus, ‘I’m doing it for the women… AND the working class!’ And, she got theatrical-maudlin as she talked of a dying woman casting her absentee vote for Clinton and a kid cashing in his video game to donate to her. Foolish kid. Shameless speech.
WaPo/ABC news poll
Tuesday morning’s WaPost/ABC poll found Obama comfortably ahead of McCain. Indeed, as more understand him to be the winner, his lead should solidify. http://abcnews.go.com/PollingUnit/Vote2008/Story?id=4837828&page=2
That same poll revealed that more Americans are uncomfortable voting for an elderly candidate than for a woman or an African-American.
-R
