$6.4 Trillion spent since 9/11 by US on wars, bases Middle

[dezii]

East and Asia.....guess thats why the nations bridges, highways are in such piss poor shape...I mean thats a lot of zeros...$6,400,000,000,000.00..I think thats correct...not use to dealing in trillions...
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"Since 9/11, American taxpayers have spent $6.4 trillion on wars and military action in the Middle East and Asia, according to the Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs at Brown University. And according to US central command, there are between 60,000 and 70,000 US troops in the Middle East."
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www.aljazeera.com/programmes/countingthecost/2020/01/counting-cost-military-bases-world-200111124314403.html

[OldCoyote]

OK in your mind, what would a proper response to the World Trade Center attack??

Or that of the Pentagon??

[dezii]

Jan 13, 2020 10:05:27 GMT -5 OldCoyote said:

OK in your mind, what would a proper response to the World Trade Center attack??

Or that of the Pentagon??

Draft the Donald...give him a week of weapon familiarization...drop him into center of the Capital...

[spartyparty]

Jan 13, 2020 10:05:27 GMT -5 OldCoyote said:

OK in your mind, what would a proper response to the World Trade Center attack??

Or that of the Pentagon??

End American Imperialism

[dezii]

Jan 13, 2020 10:37:24 GMT -5 deminmaine said:

Jan 13, 2020 10:05:27 GMT -5 OldCoyote said:

OK in your mind, what would a proper response to the World Trade Center attack??

Or that of the Pentagon??

In MY mind the proper response was to go into Afghanistan, get the bastards who did it, and go home.  Mission Accomplished.  

Nation Building is why we are there for 20 years...That;s what Biden wanted...no nation building...go after the bad guys..kill as many as we could..go into , bomb ...mountains of Pakistan and then go home.

[dondub]

Jan 13, 2020 10:37:24 GMT -5 deminmaine said:

Jan 13, 2020 10:05:27 GMT -5 OldCoyote said:

OK in your mind, what would a proper response to the World Trade Center attack??

Or that of the Pentagon??

In MY mind the proper response was to go into Afghanistan, get the bastards who did it, and go home.  Mission Accomplished.  

. That says it best. Chase the perps through Tora Bora until captured. Instead W called off the Osama hunters and the next thing you know we are attacking Iraq.
Now here we are $6.4 TRILLION later. Cheney’s previous gig at Halliburton....billions in revenue war profiteering. HW Bush and cronies at the Carlyle Group....billions in revenue. Follow the money. These ‘wars’ have been more about oil and war profiteering for the MIC than vanquishing Islamic terrorism. In fact, I’m wondering if we haven’t made it a permanent condition.

[djAdvocate]

to repeat what I said before, if all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.

our bloated, frothy, overpriced military is STUPID for fighting asymmetrical wars.

what we need is a smaller, cellular structure, great intelligence, and limited overseas bases.

we have done basically nothing to create that kind of military since 911.

and the result is that the $6+T is all wasted, and has made us LESS secure.

[djAdvocate]

Jan 13, 2020 15:43:33 GMT -5 deminmaine said:

Our military industrial complex is so deeply imbedded in our economy, community and social fabric now that I am not sure we have a way out.

I have to agree.

IKE warned us about this in the 50's. we didn't listen then.

it's too late now.

[djAdvocate]

Jan 13, 2020 15:43:33 GMT -5 deminmaine said:

if you view the military as a social program (which, essentially, it is), then you can imagine another system where the tens of thousands of people employed in this industry are instead employed in infrastructure and social welfare programs.

asymmetrical warfare is CHEAP to conduct.  we could save billions by focusing on it.

if we want to MAINTAIN some of our intercontinental capability- cool. that is cheap too.

but maintaining 100+ bases in foreign lands, large standing armies, and munitions necessary for assault on foreign soil, is, frankly, dumb when you are the world's only remaining superpower.

[thyme4change]

I wonder how long we will be the only superpower. China is working their plan.

[djAdvocate]

Jan 13, 2020 15:55:00 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

I wonder how long we will be the only superpower. China is working their plan.

not long.

we are on the same trajectory as the USSR, imo.

we can only run $1T deficits so long.

[dezii]

Jan 13, 2020 15:55:00 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

I wonder how long we will be the only superpower. China is working their plan.

They have their own problems..so many people...but also ageing population..not enough younger working people...their own problem because of years of limiting families to one child...Japan has same problem..not enough working age foilks...that was decisions made by the folks themselves..limiting size of families..China has worst pollution problems...so many coal burning plants..have to feed, cloth so many..

[djAdvocate]

Jan 13, 2020 17:00:18 GMT -5 dezii said:

Jan 13, 2020 15:55:00 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

I wonder how long we will be the only superpower. China is working their plan.

They have their own problems..so many people...but also ageing population..not enough younger working people...their own problem because of years of limiting families to one child...Japan has same problem..not enough working age foilks...that was decisions made by the folks themselves..limiting size of families..China has worst pollution problems...so many coal burning plants..have to feed, cloth so many..

they also have shown their non-interventionist stripes since WW2. the only intervention they have done is in Tibet, which they considered their own territory (for the record, I disagree with them on this). their voting record at the UN, for example, reflects a solid interest/favoritism in international law and non-interventionism. 

in short, I am not too worried about China.

[NastyWoman]

Jan 13, 2020 17:08:47 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

Jan 13, 2020 17:00:18 GMT -5 dezii said:

They have their own problems..so many people...but also ageing population..not enough younger working people...their own problem because of years of limiting families to one child...Japan has same problem..not enough working age foilks...that was decisions made by the folks themselves..limiting size of families..China has worst pollution problems...so many coal burning plants..have to feed, cloth so many..

they also have shown their non-interventionist stripes since WW2. the only intervention they have done is in Tibet, which they considered their own territory (for the record, I disagree with them on this). their voting record at the UN, for example, reflects a solid interest/favoritism in international law and non-interventionism. 

in short, I am not too worried about China.

I see China going after Taiwan as well and in the not too far off future to certain islands off their coast which Japan and Korea(?_?_?) also lay claims to.  There is that Korean police action/conflict that still hasn't been resolved that may mess us up. And that is despite the "beautiful" coins that were minted to commemorate trump solving this issue.

[djAdvocate]

that is another disputed territory issue. but that one has longer teeth.

[Tennesseer]

Jan 13, 2020 10:23:28 GMT -5 dezii said:

Jan 13, 2020 10:05:27 GMT -5 OldCoyote said:

OK in your mind, what would a proper response to the World Trade Center attack??

Or that of the Pentagon??

Draft the Donald...give him a week of weapon familiarization...drop him into center of the Capital...

“There’s weak and then there’s Trump weak,” the finer print at the bottom of the poster reads, next to a U.S. Army logo.

Comedians troll Trump Jr. with spoof Army recruitment posters

[Deleted]

Jan 13, 2020 16:16:04 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

Jan 13, 2020 15:55:00 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

I wonder how long we will be the only superpower. China is working their plan.

not long.

we are on the same trajectory as the USSR, imo.

we can only run $1T deficits so long.

This has been my biggest fear for a while, it’s going to be a very harsh 30’s kinda landing when this merry go round stops.

Someday historians will write about our horrific return on investment from pumping a ridiculous amount of money into the military. I think of all that could have been done with space exploration and infrastructure instead of bombing and occupying the Middle East.

[djAdvocate]

it turned out to be especially shortsighted given the fact that we really don't need the oil reserves any more for a whole host of reasons. in other words, we invested $6T for assets we don't really need to control.

terrible mistake, in hindsight. perhaps fatal.