Messages

On the economy

• You know, Paul, Reagan proved that deficits don't matter. We won the mid-term elections, this is our due.
  • to Paul O'Neill, then Treasury Secretary

On Iraq

• I think that the proposition of going to Baghdad is also fallacious. I think if we we're going to remove Saddam Hussein we would have had to go all the way to Baghdad, we would have to commit a lot of force because I do not believe he would wait in the Presidential Palace for us to arrive. I think we'd have had to hunt him down. And once we'd done that and we'd gotten rid of Saddam Hussein and his government, then we'd have had to put another government in its place. What kind of government? Should it be a Sunni government or Shi'i government or a Kurdish government or Ba'athist regime? Or maybe we want to bring in some of the Islamic fundamentalists? How long would we have had to stay in Baghdad to keep that government in place? What would happen to the government once U.S. forces withdrew? How many casualties should the United States accept in that effort to try to create clarity and stability in a situation that is inherently unstable? I think it is vitally important for a President to know when to use military force. I think it is also very important for him to know when not to commit U.S. military force. And it's my view that the President got it right both times, that it would have been a mistake for us to get bogged down in the quagmire inside Iraq.

QUOTE Originally Posted by 14daroad:

It's Obama's fault that the deficit is higher because the cost of Iraq's war is now included in the budget.

I bet it is!!!

The Bush Administration never included the cost of the Iraq war in the budget .

Complete & utter lie.

Indirect and delayed costs

According to a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report published in October 2007, the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could cost taxpayers a total of $2.4 trillion dollars by 2017 when counting the huge interest costs because combat is being financed with borrowed money. The CBO estimated that of the $2.4 trillion long-term price tag for the war, about $1.9 trillion of that would be spent on Iraq, or $6,300 per U.S. citizen

Joseph Stiglitz, former chief economist of the World Bank and winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, has stated the total costs of the Iraq War on the US economy will be three trillion dollars in a moderate scenario, and possibly more in the most recent published study, published in March 2008.^[12] Stiglitz has stated: "The figure we arrive at is more than $3 trillion. Our calculations are based on conservative assumptions...Needless to say, this number represents the cost only to the United States. It does not reflect the enormous cost to the rest of the world, or to Iraq."^[12]

QUOTE Originally Posted by 14daroad:

Claim:

The Bush Administration never included the cost of the Iraq war in the budget .



Fact:

Additional war spending this year will push the federal deficit to a record $427 billion for fiscal 2005

Fact:
Bush was President in 2005

Fact:
War Spending was included in FY 2005 deficit figures

Fact:
The government calculates the deficit by outlays vs revenues included in the federal budget process.

Fact:
The claim is false.

Although Congress "approved an $87 billion defense request last year," Weisman wrote, "the administration has steadfastly maintained that military forces in Iraq will be sufficiently funded until early next year." However, Bush's "budget request for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 included no money for Iraqi operations, and his budget director, Joshua B. Bolten, said no request would come until January at the earliest." [1]

Unmet funding needs, "including initiatives aimed at providing equipment and weapons for troops in Iraq" which are NOT included in "Bush's $402 billion defense budget for 2005," identified by the military include: [2]

• Army:

• $132 million for bolt-on vehicle armor
• $879 million for combat helmets, silk-weight underwear, boots and other clothing
• $21.5 million for M249 squad automatic weapons
• $27 million for ammunition magazines, night sights and ammo packs
• $956 million for repairing desert-damaged equipment
• $102 million to replace equipment lost in combat

• Marine Corps:

• $40 million for body armor, lightweight helmets and other equipment for "Marines engaged in the global war on terrorism"
• 1,800 squad automatic weapons
• 5,400 M4 carbine rifles