So, US Plans 20,000 Troop Offensive (How do we pay for this?)

[grahamhgreen]

http://www.nationalpost.com/m/wp/blog.html?b=news.nationalpost.com/2015/02/19/u-s-iraq-planning-20000-soldier-spring-offensive-to-retake-mosul-from-isis

The U.S. is considering offering a range of backing for the offensive, such as air support, intelligence and logistics, the official said. The military also has not ruled out deploying a small number of U.S. troops on the ground to find targets and call in airstrikes.

While U.S. President Barack Obama has pledged U.S. forces will not become embroiled in ground combat in Iraq, he asked Congress this month to approve an authorization for use of military force he said would permit ground missions. These include serving as spotters for strikes, using special operations forces to target ISIS leaders, collecting intelligence and conducting rescue operations.

The U.S. and allies have established five sites in the region to train Iraqi forces. About 3,200 forces are now in training and almost 2,000 have been graduated

[Fumesucker]

1. By strengthening Social Security of course

Same as it ever was.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

2. There is no debt crisis.

[neverforget]

3. Amazing how there's always money for war

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. amazing how there's always war.....

kinda sorta chicken and egg, isn't it?

[Octafish]

6. ''Money trumps peace.'' -- George W Bush, Feb. 14, 2007

The very words of George W Bush on Feb. 14, 2007, uttered at a press conference. Then he laughs and not even one member of the nation's callow, cowed press corpse saw fit to ask the giggling mass murderer a follow-up.

I remember Cindy Sheehan tried to bring it to our nation's attention.*

As for his Poppy: Bush Sr told the FBI he was in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.

* Article used to be on Common Dreams, but, for some reason, I can't find it now.

[edhopper]

5. That's 20,000

Iraqi troops, not US troops.
If Iraq is to defeat ISIS, they will have to use their troops.

[grahamhgreen]

8. Cept for the special forces, spotters, and what have you...

[edhopper]

10. Not endorsing this

just saying the title was misleading about US troops.

[Igel]

7. Depends on what you mean by "this."

What the US staffing and equipment needs will be from the article?

If that's it, it'll be easy. A bit of airfare and some per diems should cover it. The US personnel are already on staff.

If you mean pay the 20-25k troops, arm them, provision them, provide them with materiel for a multi-year campaign sure to involve huge outlays for equipment, well let's just wait. Perhaps those Iraqi troops won't be on the US payroll or fully maintained by the US. Perhaps they will. It doesn't say, and I'm not psychic or clairvoyant.

If we do fund them and use US-based manufacturers and carriers to transport all of that, I assume it'll add to any deficit--pity that any money doesn't go to Americans or American residents. But the money spent in the US will serve a purpose. We can make everybody left of center happy just by calling it "economic stimulus," with the DOD being a huge economic stimulus, creating high-paying and entrance-level jobs and important training. Remember: Deficits don't matter. (So said Cheney and Krugman. Krugman even says that in times of economic downturn they're a virtue. Anti-austerity. Of course, he said we should pay it back, whatever that means, when the criteria for saying the economic downturn ended were met. That was a while back, but we're still all firmly anti-austerity because we've changed the criteria. So deficits are good. After all, we're just borrowing from ourselves.)

[grahamhgreen]

9. How out we enact a special tax on wealth to pay for it?