$441 Billion Approved for Defense

[DLR'sCock]

Editor's Note: When the Soviet Union fell and many called for a peace dividend, the defense budget was under 200 billion dollars.-smg
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Senate Panel OKs Defense Spending Boost
The Associated Press

Saturday 14 May 2005

Washington -- A Senate committee approved a $441.6 billion defense bill for fiscal 2006 that envisions spending an additional $50 billion next year for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Our forces serving around the world are truly the first line of defense in the security of our homeland, and they deserve our strongest support," Sen. John Warner of Virginia, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said after the authorization bill passed on Friday.

"This bill provides our men and women in uniform and their families, the resources and authorities they need to successfully carry out their missions."

The bill:

Adds $1.4 billion over the president's budget request for force protection gear for service members.


Authorizes $109.2 billion for military personnel, including costs of pay, allowances, bonuses, death benefits and permanent change of station moves.


Authorizes the budget request of $3.4 billion for the Future Combat Systems program, including $231.6 million for the Non-line of Sight Launch System and $107.6 million for the Non-line of Sight Cannon.


Authorizes $344.2 million for up-armored high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicles and wheeled vehicle add-on ballistic protection to provide force protection for soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The bill also authorizes $878.4 million for 240 Stryker vehicles. Critics of the Army's Stryker troop-carrying vehicle say it inadequately protects soldiers.

Congress had approved on Tuesday an additional $82 billion for war in Iraq and Afghanistan and to combat terror worldwide, boosting the cost of the global effort since 2001 to more than $300 billion.

The Senate approved the measure unanimously, 100-0. Earlier, the House of Representatives easily approved the measure. It now goes to President Bush for his signature, which is certain.

That bill includes sweeping immigration changes, a nearly tenfold increase in the one-time payment for families of troops killed in combat and money to build a sprawling U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq's capital.

Most of the money -- $75.9 billion -- is for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, while $4.2 billion goes to foreign aid and other international relations programs.

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[Seshmeister]

Insanity.

This is going to be what fucks up the US in the long term. Pissing all your wealth away needlessly because special interest groups are running your government since it costs so much to be elected.

What's going to happen in 10 years time when China and India run the world economically and the US tries to change the situation using her overwhelming military power?

This is why a recent survey of the rest of the world said that people fear the US more than countries like North Korea.

Cheers!

[FORD]

The mention of the Soviet Union's downfall is appropriate, since the BCE is doing exactly what the Commies did. Go into massive debt in the name of "defense".

It also bears a great resemblance to what was forced on the Weimar Republic government of Germany, causing them to go bankrupt and allowing a small group of fanatics to take over.

But a PNAC regime that reveres Stalin as much as Hitler is well aware of what they are doing. Killing the United States (as we know it) on purpose.

[BigBadBrian]

Originally posted by FORD

But a PNAC regime that reveres Stalin as much as Hitler is well aware of what they are doing. Killing the United States (as we know it) on purpose.