NO! TO WASTEFUL MILITARY SPENDING

The Associated Press (AP) reports today from Washington, January 6th 2008, that Defence Secretary Robert Gates claims that by his personal estimates the military operations is Iraq and Afghanistan would cost almost 136 billion dollars for the 2009 budget year--if they continue on their current pace. But let's hope they won't!

As things appear to shaping up in Washington and around the country, we hear projections of gigantic federal deficits (estimated at $1.2 trillion dollars), mounting worker lay-offs (unemployment may reach 10% or more by some estimates), venerable companies closing their doors, and staggering declines in home values (the personal wealth of Americans who customarily live from hand to mouth with no substantial savings). Gates and President-elect Obama should think hard and long about wasting another 136 billion dollars by throwing it down the "rat hole" the Bush-hawks called the "war on terrorism".

According to the Congressional Research Service (CRS) as stated by the AP report (See: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ihrXXebCc-1ukON23aArsxLrveNwD95I3KH80) Congress has approved nearly one trillion dollars for overseas wars since September 1, 2008. Such funding was used for military operations, payments to foreign fighters, building projects in Iraq and Afghanistan, payoffs to local chieftain, payments to security firms like Blackwater, military-base construction and security, reconstruction of infrastructure in Iraq, and embassy costs in Afghanistan and Iraq. Vast quantities of that money was simply wasted and some even lost. The results of the investment have been a disaster. Rather than being well-spent to enhance our national security and safety..these expenditures may have well contributed to the financial fragility of our nation, its disastrous balance of payments, and contributed to the recent economic collapse. Further wasteful use of scarce resources should be looked at with a jaundiced eye by our new President. These funds rather than wasted as they have been in the past should be used here in the USA to return our citizens to work and get our economy back on track again.

For those who argue that military spending is an economic stimulant, I would caution that in our present condition the only military expenditures which we can afford are those based at home which keep American companies afloat and American domestic workers employed. Waste and excesses typical at the Pentagon must be avoided and spending there should be scrutinized very carefully. The talented and inventive people employed in those industries should rather turn their vast creative abilities from how to make a better pilotless drone or bomb to improving our energy independence and efficiency. The Bush-hawk years of fuzzy math and military adventurism and excesses are (we hope) over.