I guess it really is necessary to kill Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid.
After all, as the GOP have have made clear, it is absolutely imperative that the poor and the middle class take on all the financial burden of paying for the crimes of the super rich, the Corporate Oligarchy, the top 5% or so who now own the majority of wealth in the nation. It is important that we save the criminals running the giant banks, the mortgage scams, and the hedge fund managers, and bail out their crimes and failures.
And then there is the $6.6 BILLION dollars, carted to Iran in cash, which has just vanished. No one knows where it is gone. We gotta cover that.
But this one just proves the justice of the GOP’s point.
We can’t let our soldiers in the unending wars over heat.
Did you ever wonder how much money it costs for air conditioning in Iraq and Afghanistan?
he amount the U.S. military spends annually on air conditioning in Iraq and Afghanistan: $20.2 billion.
That’s more than NASA’s budget. It’s more than BP has paid so far for damage during the Gulf oil spill. It’s what the G-8 has pledged to help foster new democracies in Egypt and Tunisia.
“When you consider the cost to deliver the fuel to some of the most isolated places in the world — escorting, command and control, medevac support — when you throw all that infrastructure in, we’re talking over $20 billion,” Steven Anderson tells weekends on All Things Considered guest host Rachel Martin. Anderson is a retired brigadier general who served as Gen. David Patreaus’ chief logistician in Iraq.
Why does it cost so much?
To power an air conditioner at a remote outpost in land-locked Afghanistan, a gallon of fuel has to be shipped into Karachi, Pakistan, then driven 800 miles over 18 days to Afghanistan on roads that are sometimes little more than “improved goat trails,” Anderson says. “And you’ve got risks that are associated with moving the fuel almost every mile of the way.”
Anderson calculates more than 1,000 troops have died in fuel convoys, which remain prime targets for attack. Free-standing tents equipped with air conditioners in 125 degree heat require a lot of fuel. Anderson says by making those structures more efficient, the military could save lives and dollars.
Still, his $20.2 billion figure raises stark questions about the ongoing war in Afghanistan. In the wake of President Obama’s announcement this week that about 30,000 American troops will soon return home, how much money does the U.S. stand to save?
