Skip to main content

How dare you criticize wasteful defense spending! - Salon.com

How dare you criticize wasteful defense spending! - Salon.com: "# The 2010 Pentagon budget means 'every man, woman and child in the United States will spend more than $2,700 on (defense) programs and agencies next year,' reports the Cato Institute. 'By way of comparison, the average Japanese spends less than $330; the average German about $520; China's per capita spending is less than $100.'
# '(The Pentagon budget) dwarfs the combined defense budgets of U.S. allies and potential U.S. enemies alike,' reports Hearst Newspapers.
# 'President (Obama) is on track to spend more on defense, in real dollars, than any other president has in one term of office since World War II,' reports National Journal's Government Executive magazine.
# In 2000, the Pentagon admitted it has lost -- yes, lost -- $2.3 trillion. In 2003, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that a subsequent Department of Defense study said it was only $1 trillion. To put such numbers in perspective, contemplate what those sums could finance. $1 trillion, for instance, could pay the total cost of universal healthcare for the long haul. $2.3 trillion would cover universal healthcare plus the bank bailout plus the stimulus package."

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Evidence of torture used in Iraq | Special Reports | Guardian Unlimited Politics

Evidence of torture used in Iraq | Special Reports | Guardian Unlimited Politics : "The Foreign Office says the 'government, including its intelligence and security agencies, never use torture for any purpose' ( MI5 and MI6 to be sued for first time over torture, September 12). The evidence in the public domain from the court martial into the death of Baha Mousa and the serious abuse of 10 other Iraqi civilians is clear in establishing this is not true. UK armed forces went into Iraq with a written policy that allowed hooding, and with a policy of training interrogators to use hooding, stressing and sleep deprivation to gain intelligence. Iraqi civilians were routinely hooded in up to three sandbags - and even old plastic cement bags. When Baha Mousa died in September 2003, partly as a result of abuse while hooded, common sense dictates that at least at that point those in positions of responsibility within the civil service and military would have acted to change the poli...

Today's Article: # 564

Today's Article: # 564 : "My last column highlighted the false accusations made by Nayirah, a 15-year-old Kuwaiti girl, against the Iraqi army in October 1990. Her lies led to the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. Almost 13 years later, a member of the British Parliament lied to the world about Saddam Hussein and Iraq. Her message was different from that of Nayirah, but the results were identical: death and destruction."