It’s been many years since U.S. military spending in Afghanistan topped that spent in Iraq. But we all know what happened in 2003. Afghanistan is now back on top. Increases in troop numbers along with difficult terrain has really boosted monthly spending:
Pentagon spending in February, the most recent month available, was $6.7 billion in Afghanistan compared with $5.5 billion in Iraq. As recently as fiscal year 2008, Iraq was three times as expensive; in 2009, it was twice as costly.
A USA Today article says this about the cascading costs: “Costs per servicemember in Afghanistan have been roughly double what they are in Iraq since 2005. That is due to lower troop levels, Afghanistan’s landlocked location, lack of infrastructure, high cost of fuel and less reliable security.”
Obama’s involvement in this is infuriating.
And all the while, “precious” oil is still bubbling out of the Gulf while BP has absolutely no idea what to do about it. Honchos at BP, Transocean and Halliburton–LIFE IN PRISON. An alternate penance would be for them to be forced to swim in that area of the spill until it is capped–if it ever is.