Paying For The War: Dollars Are Best Bullets
April 25th, 2008 by Admin
This was written by Frederick W. Kagan, a writer for the Weekly Standard. It provides the facts that each of us should be armed with in regards to the played out arguments by the anti-war movement. Their other talking points – the surge has failed, Iraqis will never reconcile, Iraqi troops won't fight, violence won't fall or, if it does, it won't stay down – have been visibly and undeniably disproven. Now, we can attack the "we're wasting too much money of the war" argument. The only thing left, really, is to defeat the "if you don't agree with us, we'll punch your – and your son's – lights out" argument.
Posted in Military PerspectiveThe new talking point is that the war costs too much, America's economy is in trouble, Iraq is a an oil-rich nation, and we must make the Iraqis pay.
As is so often the case with the antiwar party, this talking point proceeds from assumptions that are false:
* That the Iraqis are not paying their share, do not want to, and can only be forced to so by act of Congress (an argument similar to previous claims that only hard timelines and Congressional threats would force the Iraqis to pass laws, fight militias, and so on, all disproven.
* That the United States is spending money to build schools and hospitals in Iraq when we need schools and hospitals here at home; and
* That we are spending money in Iraq for the benefit of Iraqis rather than Americans, and that it is fit that the Iraqis spend the money or, alternatively, acceptable if the money isn't spent at all.
The reality is:
* The U.S. foreign assistance budget for Iraq has dropped from $16.3 billion in 2004 to a programmed $1.2 billion in 2008; the Iraqi capital budget has grown from $3.2 billion to $13.1 billion in the same period;
* Actual Iraqi spending has risen from $1.2 billion out of $5 billion programmed in 2005 to $4.7 billion out of $10.1 billion programmed in 2007–doubling the budget execution rate in three years;
* Iraqi budgeting for Iraqi Security Forces has risen from $1.6 billion in 2004 to $9.0 billion in 2008–nearly a 500 percent increase; American budgeting for the ISF has dropped from $5 billion in 2004 to $3 billion in 2008–a 40 percent decrease;
* U.S. assistance money in Iraq is not going to build any sort of permanent infrastructure–hospitals, schools, electrical grid, etc. It is focused instead on the Commander's Emergency Response Program (CERP–more about that below); on building the capacity of Iraq's government institutions to spend Iraq's money; and on developing the capabilities of the Iraqi Security Forces to take responsibility for Iraq's security–all essential elements of creating the conditions for a responsible reduction in American forces over time; and
* The U.S. is not spending money in Iraq to make Iraqis happy–all American aid programs are designed to help America's soldiers succeed in their fight against al Qaeda and Iranian-backed Shia militias.
It is particularly odd that the antiwar party that has been so loudly trumpeting the need to use soft power rather than hard power is now attempting to undo years of effort to develop a sophisticated political-economic-social-military program in Iraq to secure America's objectives. Having failed to force American troops out of Iraq, Congress is now trying to strip them of all the enablers they need to win. And it is not scare-mongering to state a fact that any brigade commander in Iraq will bear out: cutting off assistance, particularly the CERP money that brigade commanders rely on to establish and maintain good relations with local populations who reciprocate by helping track down terrorists and protect key infrastructure (including the "concerned local citizens," now renamed "Sons of Iraq" who are the lynchpin of this effort), will lead to more American casualties.
General Petraeus and many other commanders have repeatedly said that in this war dollars are the best bullets. Why would Congress want to take the best non-lethal weapons out of the hands of our soldiers and force them to use their guns and risk their lives unnecessarily? What sense does it make to hector the Iraqis about their failure to spend their own money and simultaneously cut funding to the American efforts to help the Iraqis do exactly that? How can a political leader simultaneously bemoan the fact that the Iraqi Security Forces are not "stepping up to the plate" adequately and then propose to eliminate resources American soldiers and civilians are using to help the ISF fight better? It is very hard to see in such incoherence anything other than political cynicism.
That having been said, there are some things that Congress could reasonably do and some things that would seriously harm America's interests in Iraq and the world.
Congress can appropriately
* Insist that Iraq continue to improve its budget execution and prioritize spending its surplus on its own reconstruction and the development of its own armed forces;
* Recognize the reality that the United States is no longer in the business of building Iraqi infrastructure or otherwise "reconstructing" Iraq on a large scale;
* Declare its expectation that Iraq will fully fund its own military and reconstruction programs from 2008 on; and
* Request that Iraq continue to contribute its own money to the CERP program.
Congress must not
* Cut off or reduce CERP funding, support for capacity-building efforts, or security assistance funding for this year;
* Levy any claims whatsoever on Iraq's wealth–Iraq is a sovereign state with which the United States is allied in a fight against mutual enemies. We can ask that Iraq share the expense of that fight with us, as we do with many allies, but we cannot demand it (as we do not demand it of any of our allies);
* Demand or even ask Iraq to pay any portion of the cost of maintaining American soldiers in Iraq. Any such request will be portrayed throughout the Muslim world as an American demand that Iraq pay for its own occupation, that America really is an imperial power determined to wrest Iraq's oil wealth from it, and that this really was a war for oil all along. The truth is that Congress spends more money on useless pork than it is ever likely to recoup from Iraq with such demands, but even recouping billions of dollars would not begin to cover the cost of so damaging America's image in the world.
As has become unfortunately common, the antiwar party has turned a fairly simple problem into a complex and confusing equation. Either America has interests in defeating al Qaeda and Iranian-backed Shia militias in Iraq or it doesn't. If it doesn't, then we should not have any troops in Iraq and we should not be spending money there. If it does, and we have already made the decision to sacrifice the lives of the best of Americans in the effort, then we owe it to them to give them the tools they need to succeed. If Congress wants to "end the war," then let it debate and vote on that. If it doesn't–or can't–then it is time to stop playing games and fund our soldiers.
Kagan is a signatory to the PNAC doctrine; I would expect nothing else but these types of wishful ramblings from this idiot!
Kagen's assesment is correct. The only item he leaves out, or perhaps coverered previously was the subject of duration. Its certainly refresshing to hear of the Iraqi's picking up more of the cost of this thing and since a lot of the best military equipment is made in the US, we stand to gain economically in the end. Petreaus made the assessment that the gains were fragile and could easily fall. I agree that not all solutions are ones that come out of the cannon. I just want to have a lot of review for the solutions that come out of our wallet as well.
In case some of you forgot, the Marshall Plan was hotly debated as well.
David
I thought the article was very good. I didn't know the facts about how much less we are spending and Iraq is taking some responsibility for their budget.
I do agree that we need to give the troops the money and equipment to do their jobs and ensure victory!
Morton, when are you going to get it through your thick, and ignorant mind that America wasn't lied to? Almost every ally of the United States was saying the very same things that our government was in regards to Saddam's WMD's and connections to Terror Cells including ones in the Al Qaeda network. At the same time, they weren't wrong.
Al Qaeda nearly succeeded in conducting a chemical attack on the innocent people of Amman, Jordan using 20 tons of VX Nerve Agent that were in fact from Iraq.
The terror cell leader Al Jayousi confessed that he himself got the VX from Iraq through Ba'ath military members at their hide outs before we invaded Iraq, and we were able to conclude that his confession was legitimate because we had found the same chemicals at the Ba'ath hideouts that he specified.
We were also able to confirm that Al Jayousi was an Al Qaeda member, because he had been known to participate in Al Qaeda's activities in the past. Which have ultimately landed him on terror watch lists in sea and air ports all across the world.
Then there was also a Pentagon study that did prove that Saddam had worked with terror cells in th Al Qaeda network. One of them was the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, which is a member of the Al Qaeda network and is also where Al Zawahiri was from when he was climbing up the ranks in Al Qaeda's leadership.
Then, there were the findings of the UNMOVIC which add vindication to the removal of the Ba'ath military from it's seat of power in Iraq. According to Demetrius Perricos, Saddam had been shipping technology that would make illicit WMD's out of Iraq before the British and American troops came into Baghdad.
First, they had found Uranium Ore that was shipped from Iraq in the Netherlands. Then they also found biological labs in Iraq that were breeding samples of anthrax. These findings make the conclusion that Saddam did not put away his aspirations to acquire WMD's even more evident. It also proves that he didn't get rid of all the materials that the U.N. had told him to.
So, what does all this mean? What does it ultimately lead to? The answer is; the conclusion that Saddam had WMD's and links to international terror cells including ones in the Al Qaeda network.
Over all, it's really funny how Bush's so called lies turned out to be true, isn't it? Seriously, Morton, pick up a book and read. You could use the learning experience. It would be the perfect start for you to break out of your little fantasy world.
Just because you reiterate the same talking points over and over again, doesn't make them true. That's not how the world works. You don't just tap your shoes together when your lost, while chanting "there's no place like home", and wind up safe in your house. If things where that simple, then there would probably be no wars.
So wake up, Morton, do yourself a favor and actually do research, rather than have someone who tells you what you think you know, formulate your talking points for you. It's a free country, Morton. You can think outside of the box!
This does not need to be argued with. Irrelevant facts and numbers cherry-picked and presented out of context in order to make points that do not, in fact, even exist. I will give ONE example only, since this entire bat shit article is like a large example of this:
"U.S. assistance money in Iraq is not going to build any sort of permanent infrastructure"
Horse Shit. Permanent bases are being built all over the country, and EVERYONE knows that. You think you can just tell naked lies like that and expect to be taken seriously?
Morton,
NO CJ, DON'T BAN HIM!!! GONE ARE OUR CHEAP LAUGHS, THEY KEEP ASP FRESH AND FUN!!
I am going to have to agree with Isaac on this one, Morton really is a useful idiot.
CJ sent me Morton's last comment and he called the troops of our military "spoiled". Sounds like his head's going to explode, I pity him. I guess knowing that noone is going to swallow his agit-prop no matter how hard he tries to force it down our throats, has driven him into desperation.
He really needs to be reminded of the definition of "spoiled". His constant repeating of cliched talking points and crass insults are equal to that of a three year old throwing a temper tantrum just because his or her parents won't get him or her another ice cream scoop. Give or take, if there is anybody who is spoiled here, it's him.
At the same time, even if there were troops who are spoiled, then that wouldn't change the fact that Morton's political stances on military affairs are wrong.
Morton, if you want ANYONE to take you seriously you need to stop calling people names otherwise you just look like a horses butt. And if you're so upset about the Randall Larsen book then why are you not shouting from the roof tops and getting a movement going to stop all the mishandling of our National Security.
They may have missed a vial that proved they didn't ask the right questions but SOMEONE did when they stopped those people at the border on the millennium. And someone wasn't asleep at the switch all the other times that the terrorist threats that have been attempted on our country have been thwarted.
Your arrogance and hate filled spew is just more of the aging hippie rhetoric that we hear droning on from the left because they are still mad that Bush beat Gore in 2000 and did so even after every vote WAS recounted. Grow up. Name calling is for sissies and little spoiled brats who don't get their way and need to throw temper tantrums.
Adults have intelligent discussions. Children spit and throw rocks. Doesn't take much to figure out which one you are!!
If you actually knew anything about the brave men and women who are serving in the military, you would be more respectful of them AND the flag you have been stomping all over. But its ok, cause men like CJ and Marcus and Spc Begley all serve so that people like you who are numb from the neck up don't have to put other Soldiers lives in danger by taking your numb butt over there to fight. YOU get to sit home here and arm chair quarter back on your not so little beet red butt and you can be as ignorant as you please.
Great post CJ and good comments Ryan.
Allow me to add some more perspective to this and correct Morton on a few things. First of all, I defy you, Morton, to show me anywhere and prove that ANYONE said the war was only going to cost $50 million. That wouldn't pay for one division's operating costs!!
Out of the approximately 194 countries in the world, the United States is ranked as the sixth richest country in the world, has more billionaires than any other country by more than 200, has the largest economy by more than $4 trillion over the closest competitor, has the third highest Gross National Income per Capita, ranked 6th highest quality of life, and is the only country to tolerate your insanity.
Of the top ten poorest nations on earth, six of them are predominantly Muslim nations! Think about that. Actually, you may have to have someone think about that for you and explain it in single syllable terms.
Morty…
I won't go down as the biggest Bush supporter, but I'll throw this out for you and the rest. What would you do? Instead of wasting cyberspace on the negative and throwing facts around that you can't back up, what would you do? Your country just got hit with one of the worst terrorist attacks in recent history. Your people that elected you are demanding a response. The president of Russia basically said "Welcome to the party" as they've been dealing with different terror groups for over a decade. What's your plan? Its easy to second guess, but not so easy being on the front lines. I eagerly await your reply, if you have one.
David
Morton, you just proved you can't handle different views either. All you do is try to push your agit-prop down the throats of those who have disproven you with more effort than the last time. This kind of behavior makes your inability to hear opposing perspectives more obvious.
At the same time, I would hardly consider myself a zombie. I think for myself and refuse to take what is being told to me without looking deeper into the subject. If there is a zombie in this blog at all, then it would be you.
I find this all too absurd with mendacity, but if you are the one who is constantly reiterating cliched talking points that have no support and are composed by hyperpartisans like yourself, then wouldn't your branding of me as a "zombie" be parallel to "the pot calling the kettle black"?
Also, I find it all too ironic that noone here has ever had the hubris to call his or herself a "hero', but you continue to imagine that we have done so, because it feeds your super ego as well as the many fallacies that go into your comments here.
As for the Pat Tillman case, noone knows how Tillman died. I am afraid that this case is not yet closed and I doubt that his fellow troopers were the cause of his tragic death.
Also, not being able to tell whether the people you encounter are friendly or hostile doesn't make a war pointless. In fact, this situation has been present in most wars. In World War Two, Japanese officers would dress up in the uniform of our troops and hide behind another Japanese soldier who was carrying weapons on his back. When they got close enough to our troops, they would attack.
Then there were the people in the Philippino Hakbulahap villages, they were enemies to both the U.S. and Japan. When the U.S. soldiers came across them, they would attack. This still did not make the war against Japan any less significant. Although it did to Americans who were against World War Two.
In the end, the notion that not knowing whether your near friendlies or hostiles doesn't vindicate your stance. This talking point is both; irrelevant and lacking in veracity.
Anyway, I decided to rack things up here. I don't think I need to debunk anything else, because this is good enough. I don't need to dissect your comments to show everyone how absurd they are, Morton. I also got to finish some school work. Take care everyone. Yeah, you too Morton!
Well, I have to say, Morton is a bit too funny to be serious about what he says. We have had people like CF here for quite long and we still discuss things with him quite well, unlike Morton, after all, CF attacks the opinion and not the people who who it, that is what keeps him rational. NO I DO NOT THINK THAT MORTON IS CF ON PILLS, but you never know… lol.
Wow the BDS is strong in Morton. Dont know how to respond to his 'theorys' so I wont. But as a side I do find it funny that in the same congresional year the US Congress failed to do anything that mattered, and 'caved in' to President Bush on everything that I care about. And the Iraqi Congress has completed many many things in the same time span. Yet the Iraqis have failed, how does that work?
Hi Dagamore,
I don't think the Iraqi's have failed. They are effectively trying to build an airplane while flying. You, like many others, may still have the vision that was portrayed when the war began that it would be easy and short-lived. As a liberal Democrat, I'm glad Congress didn't act to get the troops out. They need to finish the job. Just as the decision to invade was frought with political nuances draped in as a response to 9/11 the decision to pull out shouldn't be a political one bent on dissing Bush. It should be a military one stating that our troops are no longer needed.
David
Morton are you really Osama here tryin to fool us since you seem to know so much about what Osama loves?? You above all people should know how silly those assumptions are starting with "Osama loves this war"!! And he's loving it from a cave in some mountain where he cannot move around and breathe Free air like you do Mortie!! And he hasn't been able to for the last 7 years!! The man has a bulls eye on his back and one day he will make a tiny mistake and that bullseye will explode from the missile that will hit him and blow him to smithereens.
It's very easy to throw out numbers for negative things Mortie, and your little rag is getting worn and tired. So here's a question for you Mortie, you're so concerned with the innocent count from the USA, how bout you give us an accurate count of all the innocents maimed and tortured and blown up by the bombs of Osama, Al Qada, Sadaam, Hitler even, and all the other terrorists around the world.
You can start with the over 3000 victims right here in this country seven years ago and then continue your tally in all the other places around the world that these terrorists have a vice grip and hold people hostage through terror. Hitler himself added more than 6 million Mortie!! You're gonna have a tough time stacking up US bad points against that one!!
I know of not one time that the US has kidnapped someone and beheaded him in front of a camera just for the fun of it, or for any other reason for that matter. I don't think your Al Qada buds can make that same claim!!
You haughtily sit there on your butt and tell everyone on here they should go somewhere else while calling this country names and spitting on the flag. You are so pathetic. You are the one filled with hatred for this country, why don't you go live where you can be free of such tyranny and oppression?? That would make more sense than you being so angry all the time. It's really bad for your health Mortie.
Morton, I thought you don't believe what the U.S. government says? Yet, here you are, citing one of the most powerful and influential departments within the U.S. government. This leads me to conclude that you only believe the sources that provide vindication for your political stances, and make your comments seem like they're credible when they're not.
Is Morton actually the Reverend Wright using an assumed name?
His ranting and ravings sound about the same.
Morton, you must have been hurt very very much to have that much rage. I am so sorry that you have been hurt so bad.
Do you have the name of the Key Bush Administration budget official that "was too truthy", and lost his job for it? Or did you just make this event up thinking that it would help you in the long run?
Also, I don't think that Bush should be the person to blame for what the insurgents and the Mahdi Army have been doing in Iraq for the past 5 years. If there is anyone who has blood on their hands for all these deaths, it should be them. After all, most of the deaths that have taken place were not caused from fighting, or the foreign coalition's presence.
They were caused by IED's, VBIED's, and suicide bombers from the sunni insurgency who is trying to start a war with the Shia members of the Iraqi government through the means of sectarian violence. Another culprit is the fighting and violence in Nineveh province from the Iranian backed Shia extremists in the Mahdi Army.
I think Mr. Morton spends waaaaay to much time in front of the TV to foment his views:
"The american people are impatient, materialistic and arrogant. Their minds are empty and their hearts are weak."
Get out of whatever hole you are hiding in and see what we look like. We are strong and of great heart. As for my mind being empty, you are speaking for yourself only.
David
Morton, you accuse ME of being part of the status quo. Guess you have not read any of my posts. Sounds more like you are stuck in the status quo of the 60's anti-authority movement.
Do you hate LBJ for his war in Vietnam? Do you hate the Japanese and the French for their war in Vietnam? Or is it just the USA that you find unattractive?
Really Morton, if you love the terrorist and hate the US so much, why not live among them? I am sure they will be very… welcoming. From the way you said "There will be NO SAFETY, there will be NO
SURPRISE and No Escape" I think you can be their spokesperson.
Already completed your assignment before you even assigned it, Morton. I already did look into the national debt. I recall replying to you the last time you mentiond the debt, you were telling us about the National Debt clock website. I responded by suggesting that you read it thoroughly yourself, because it was becoming pretty obvious that you didn't even try to do so. I hate to reiterate things, but I have no choice since that is what you do. Therefore, the discussion at hand becomes circular because of you, and that explains why the rebuttles stay the same.
If you look through the brillig.com website where the the national debt clock is located, you will find multiple reports. One of them has graphs in it, and it will show our debt broken down into four parts and that consists of; Defense/Military, Social Spending, Interest, and Other. According to the graph which is updated by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, a majority of our debt is for social spending which is; schools, medicare, social security, roads, welfare, etc. It is growing 14 times faster than the U.S. economy, this is the culprit behind both, our debt and our declining dollar.
Your claim that every penny that is being charged is for the defense/military aspect is ludicrous. Although that would be true for social spending. I examined the debt the best I can, why don't you? It's simply not enough for me to tell you, you got to go to that website, and look into it yourself. However, I would love to ask myself, how am I going to pay for the messed up deficit that the previous generation had left me, what kind of economy will I pass to the generation after mine. Why did my folks spend so much on social spending? I mean, I understand that these were intended to open windows of opportunity for the less wealthy, but all it did was make my country even more poor and it created more poor people. These things no doubt need to be pondered, if we want to find a solution.
Honestly, I think your so called "homework for the heroes" would be a perfect assignement for everyone, not just military members and supporters specifically. We could all use some sharpening when it comes to how well we are informed. There are plenty of helpfl sources out there.
Another good source would be the Census Bureau's Statistical Abstract. According to this source, about 3 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product is spent on defense(one of lowest rates in our country's history) which consists of; the military's regular spending seperate from the wars, maintaining and replacing equipment, and the wars. However, GDP is not the only thing that contributes to our spending abilities. We also collect taxes, and as of recent years the tax rates have been one of the highest in history. My generation pays more for taxes than our parents and grandparents did.
When you combine the tax collections and the GDP we get the country's total purchasing capabilities, which means the defense/military spending aspect of it has to be much less than 3 percent, given that defense spending is about 3 percent from GDP alone.
I'll just end things here with a quote from the Grandfather Economic Debt Report: "Social spending increases can no longer be camouflaged by defense reductions". This says it all, our debt is caused from social spending. If there is anyone here who needs to do their homework most, it is you, Morton. I have nothing personal against you, but your claims have no veracity. Here are the links to the websites I had mention in the event you do not know where to start searching.
Sources cited;
1.) Grandfather Federal Economic Debt Report.
URL: home.att.net/....htm#culprit
- graph from the Bureau of Economic Analysis is towards the bottom.
2.) Debt Clock.
URL:
brillig.com/debt_clock/
3.) Statistical Abstract from Census Bureau.
URL:
census.gov/co...ndia/statab/
4.) Barack Obama Test; this breaks the Statistical Abstract down making it easier to understand it's results.
URL:
americanthink...ma_test.html
I have to warn you guys though. I don't really like the last one, which is the American Thinker source. It is a conservative think tank. Don't get me wrong, I like both Dems and Republicans a little bit, even though I am non partisan. However, their think tanks sometimes misconstrue facts on purpose and unconsciously for partisan gain and to defend their talking points.
Actually, Bush was in the Air National Guard. I think that counts as military experience. Your so called "lake of lies" that front loaded Operation Iraq Freedom, have come from our nation's allies working hand in hand with our own intel services. This includes the intel services from; Israel, Jordan, Britain, the U.N., Germany, Russia, Spain, Czech Republic, and Canada.
I would have made this list longer, but I didn't want to stray too far from the point that this war was based on intel being fed to our government by reiable sources.
The claim that any of these services or members in our government had hijacked and distorted the contents of the intel that was being consumed by the Administration and Congress is a Howard Dean talking point. Which has been disproven by two bipartisan investigations into the subject matter.
Therefore, this claim lacks veracity like the CS Monitor, Huffington Post, and the Center for Public Integrity. These sources are the liberal equivalent to the conservative think tanks; The American Thinker, and the Enterprise Institute for Research of Public Policy. Don't get me wrong, I will listen to each of these as open minded as I can. However, I still take their opinions with a grain of salt.
For the American Thinker article I had cited earlier, I double checked it. Randall Hoven did not miscontrue anything. The results he put into his article were consistent with the Bureau of Census statistical abstract's findings. So I was able to drop the skepticism I had when I first read his article before looking into his sources.
It disgusts me to see someone spouting trash the likes of Morton. We may respect the right to freedom of speech in the US, but I do not have to respect the pure idiocy of it's content.
The US news agencies may be a bit biased, but the international news outlets generally aren't. Try getting your news from CNN or the BBC instead of Al Queda's billboards.
Morton,
I say you love the terrorist because of the way you presented them. For example, the commies, you said "I am VERY proud of the Vietnamese for their efforts to kick out the colonial masters of France, Japan and the SSA." you even hate YOUR own country. I plan to live in the US when my EDUCATION is finished.
You also go on to say that the US are just "different" kinds of terrorist. I like to remind you that the US could have easily nuked the countries but yet they are willing to give the country a chance at freedom, just like they did in Vietnam FOR ME.