grahamhgreen
grahamhgreen's JournalWho Will Pay? Cost of War already at 1 Billion (EST. 22b/year):
http://www.stripes.com/news/middle-east/cost-of-air-war-against-islamic-state-already-near-1-billion-as-strategy-shifts-1.305511WASHINGTON (MCT) — The air war in Syria and Iraq has already cost nearly $1 billion and ultimately could cost as much as $22 billion per year if a large ground force is deployed to the region, according to an analysis by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.
The study, due to be released Monday, shows a range of costs based on sustained but low-intensity combat up to a force of 25,000 U.S. troops on the ground.
Edit: think of the America we will have when we use our resources for good, instead of war.
EDIT 2: Bush Jr's Iraq war was originally estimated at 80 billion. Instead, it cost 3-6 trillion. We can reasonably extrapolate this war will cost 750 billion to 3 trillion. More, if you factor the Bush war cost was a one year 3 month estimate.
Why does Obama refuse to ask for tax concessions from those that can afford it? It's their war, their oil we are defending, they can pay this time. They're asking our troops to possibly give their lives, the wealthy can give up a portion of their Hoarde for this war they are lobbying for. They will never go without food, they will still live in mansions.
That can afford to pay. Let's have a convo about taxing them, now!
Saudi Pilot Arrested for Refusing to Bomb ISIS in Syria
http://www.almasdarnews.com/article/saudi-pilot-arrested-refusing-bomb-isis-syria/According to social media activists, a Saudi Air Force officer has refused orders to carry out an airstrike on Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) positions in Syria. The Saudi officer, Captain Faisal Al-Ghamdi, is said to have refused to participate in the airstrikes due to his support of the terrorist group. The news has circulated amongst pro-ISIS pages and has been referenced by their ground activists in Saudi Arabia, adding to the already turbulent relations between the terrorist group and Wahhabi-led government.
Saudi officials have yet to comment on the validity of this story; however, a picture and the soldier’s identity has been released by pro-ISIS media sources. ISIS has a strong presence in Saudi Arabia – the country’s government has financially supported rebels in Syria and Iraq to overthrow their governments. Recently, Saudi Arabia agreed to participate in the Anti-ISIS Coalition to quell the terrorist group’s presence in the region.
Tiny Spanish Island Nears Its Goal: 100 Percent Renewable Energy
http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2014/09/17/349223674/tiny-spanish-island-nears-its-goal-100-percent-renewable-energyThe plant consists of five big industrial windmills and two lakes. On windy days — and there are plenty — the windmills harness the Canary Islands' Atlantic gusts. When production exceeds demand, such as at night, excess energy is used to pump water from a sea-level lake up into a natural volcanic crater half a mile uphill.
When the wind dies down, the water is released down through a pipe connecting the two lakes. On its way, it passes through turbines, which generate hydro-power.
Kick for Russ Feingold for Attorney General !!!!!
For eighteen years from 1993 to 2011, Russ Feingold represented Wisconsin in the United States Senate. He served on the Foreign Relations, Intelligence, Judiciary, and Budget Committees. He also served in the Wisconsin State Senate from 1983 to 1993 and practiced law for six years at Foley & Lardner and LaFollette & Sinykin in Madison, Wisconsin.
Well known for leading the fight for campaign finance reform in the Senate alongside Senator John McCain, Senator Feingold was also the only senator to vote against the Patriot Act, and was the first senator to propose a timetable to exit Iraq. Feingold was the recipient of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation’s Profile in Courage Award in 1999 and also received the Four Freedoms Award from the Roosevelt Institute in 2011. Feingold graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with honors in 1975, received an honors degree from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar in 1977, and then went on to Harvard Law School, where he earned his honors degree in 1979.
Since leaving the Senate, Feingold has been a visiting professor at Marquette University Law School, the inaugural Mimi and Peter Haas Distinguished Visitor at Stanford University, the Stephen Edward Scarff Distinguished Visiting Professor of Foreign Policy at Lawrence University, and was a Lecturer in Law at Stanford Law School.
Feingold founded Progressives United in 2011 to address corporate influence in the U.S. political system following the Supreme Court’s decision on the case of Citizens United, and the organization continues today while Feingold serves in government. Feingold recently served as a co-chair for President Obama’s reelection campaign.
Feingold is also the author of the New York Times bestseller While America Sleeps, about American policies both domestically and abroad since the terrorist attacks of September 11, and discussing what steps must be taken to ensure that the next ten years are focused on the international problems that threaten America and its citizens.
Obama "whether one year from now or 10. I can promise you America will remain engaged in the region"
Who pays? If the threat is real, we need a special wealth tax now, they are the people who can afford another 10 year war.... Working Ameticans are tapped.
Seems like a continuation of the perpetual war doctrine of the neocons. Ten years of war got us ISIL.... What new Hydra will emerge from the next ten years?
Link to quote from today NYT: http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/09/25/world/middleeast/obama-syria-un-isis.html?smid=re-share&_r=0&referrer=
US ties itself in legal knots to cover shifting rationale for Syria strikes
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/24/us-legal-knots-shifting-rationale-syria-strikesIn a letter to the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, released near 24 hours after attacks began, US ambassador Samantha Power argued that the threat to Iraq from Islamic State, known as Isis or Isil, gave the US and its allies in the region an automatic right to attack on its behalf.
“Iraq has made clear that it is facing a serious threat of continuing attacks from Isil coming out of safe havens in Syria,” Power wrote.
“The government of Iraq has asked that the United States lead international efforts to strike Isil sites and military strongholds in Syria in order to end the continuing attacks on Iraq, to protect Iraqi citizens and ultimately to enable and arm Iraqi forces to perform their task of regaining control of the Iraqi borders.”
More....
Prediction: Mission Accomplished" speech before the elections:)
No matter what the situation is on the ground.
Also, some reason why we have to take out Assad.... Likely with the help of ISIL.
ISIL Uses Chlorine Gas in Attack.
http://www.iraqinews.com/iraq-war/urgent-isis-kills-300-iraqi-soldiers-chlorine-gas-attack-saqlawiyah/(IraqiNews.com) On Monday several Members of Parliament from Diwaniyah Province confirmed that ISIS killed over 300 soldiers using chlorine gas for the first time in Saqlawiyah, north of Fallujah.
Islamic Dawa party MP Ali al-Badri said, at a press conference at the parliament building in the presence of a number of deputies of Diwaniyah province and attended by IraqiNews.com that “the terrorist organization ISIS used chlorine gas for the first time in the region of Saqlawiyah after trapping more than 400 troops, resulting in the deaths of many of them due to suffocation while the terrorist gangs detonated car bombs within the brigade headquarters.”
Badri said, “We hold the full responsibility for the fate of the trapped soldiers to the Commanding General of the Armed Forces, Haider Abadi, and the security leaders, especially the Anbar Operations Chief, Lt. Gen. Rashid Flaih, because of the slow measures taken by the Air Force despite frequent appeals for rapid procedures to rescue the soldiers since several days ago.”
Badri added that the “Saqlawiyah crime is considered as the second Speicher Massacre,” stressing that “300 soldiers were killed in the attack.”
..........
Guess this lends credence to the reports that it was the insurgents and not Assad who used chemical weapons in Syria.
EDIT: Point is, we don't know what's happening over there. Was it Assad using chemical weapons? or ISIL? Or the 'moderate' opposition? Who are the barbarians at the gate? The people's whose 'patriots' torture? The guys who use white phosphorus and depleted uranium? The country that beheads dozens every month? We are trapped in a cycle of violence.
FURTHER: Obama almost attacked Assad over the use of chemical weapons (still in dispute). We then armed the rebels to fight Assad. These rebels then turned into ISL, with the help of the Iraqi military that we trained. We are now going to arm a different set of these rebels to fight ISIL and Assad, in the hopes that will will be well in the end. It will not be. The solution is to force a coalition of SA, Assad, Iran, Israel, et al, it will be good for them.
In my view, we are one of the major problems, not the solution in the Middle East.
Poll: iphone 6 or 6 plus?
I was about to get the 6+, but after putting it in my hands, I'm leaning towards the 6....
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