White House Requests $515 Billion for the Pentagon

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Source: Washington Post

By Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 5, 2008; Page A12

President Bush yesterday requested $515.4 billion for the fiscal 2009 Pentagon budget, a 7.5 percent increase from last year's spending request that is aimed at expanding the Army and Marine Corps, boosting force readiness and future combat capabilities, and improving the quality of life of service members.

The administration also sought an additional $70 billion in funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a short-term spending request that could force the next administration to make critical war-funding decisions during the first days of its term.

Congress so far has given the Pentagon $87 billion of the administration's $190 billion war-funding request for 2008. Defense officials yesterday used the budget announcement to ask lawmakers to approve the rest of the funding, saying that the Pentagon might be unable to pay soldiers at war by June and that continued delays could cause operational problems in Iraq by July.

"Our ability to continue this level of effort there" would be undermined, and "we'll have to stop operations about that time," Vice Adm. P. Stephen Stanley, director for force structure, resources and assessment on the Joint Staff, said at a Pentagon news conference.

Military officials said they expect that the $70 billion in war funding will need to grow significantly to support operations in Iraq and Afghanistan over the next year. However, following the administration's wartime pattern, yesterday's request separated out funding for Iraq and Afghanistan. Pentagon officials are unsure how much they are going to need for the wars and are awaiting an assessment this spring from Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq.
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"You give the services what they're requesting, and you see the budget go up like this," O'Hanlon said. "It makes it very hard to figure out how to cut. If a new president wants to make a meaningful dent in the budget, how can they?"

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/04/AR2008020403406.html

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I don't know exactly what it takes to run an army, but this seems a little ridiculous.

[dantyrant]

1. If there are any future historians, they'll look back at the US and call

the US military the greatest, most senseless waste of resources in the history of mankind.

[Massachusetts]

6. Mind your manners Centurian. All Hail,Caeser

"Vires et Honestas"

[fascisthunter]

2. Sure... Right After You Pay Back what You Wasted!

Delusional head case...


http://money.cnn.com/data/markets/dow/

[Dr.Phool]

3. Is there anybody in Congress with the balls to say.

FUCK OFF!!!

Ditch missile defense. End the wars. End stealth bombers and fighters. Cut back on no bid contracts.

You'll save a lot of money.

[Javaman]

4. So now we are outspending what was spent on all of WWII and we didn't even get

a fucking t-shit.

in the 1940's we defeated two massive army's, turned our entire economy over to war production, built two atomic bombs at an enormous cost, etc, etc, etc, all in under 5 years! while also supplying two other nations!!!

and here we are almost 7 fucking years later, two wars still dragging on, OBL hasn't been captured, moron* doesn't like to worry his* pretty little mind on that, almost 5000 soldiers dead, 20k wounded, over 1 million Iraqi civilians dead, the world is totally pissed off at us, our economy is in the shitter and getting worse, no plan for getting off oil and we still have almost a whole year left with the mother fucker*.

:banghead:

[MasonJar]

5. No, not after the evil one vetoed the money for children's health care,

and if some of it went to their poor, impoverished father and mother, who cares.

[fasttense]

7. Oh, would somebody please put a sock in this man's mouth.

He is such an ignorant fool with his pie in the sky balanced budget crap and thinking he is going to get the same amount of taxes from the same wage slaves that have lost their jobs. The economy is on the skids and he is borrowing even more. Who the hell is left to pay off these pig's debt?

Why oh why does the congress pay this idiot any mind?

Here's a hint, everything he wants to do, this country should do the exact opposite. Then we will see some success.

[plantwomyn]

8. Congress will pass the funding

and should add a 30 billion more. The repugs want to "force the next administration to make critical war-funding decisions during the first days of its term." A Repug POTUS won't be hurt by immediately funding the war. A Dem will.

[primavera]

9. The shrub always asks for more than he thinks he can get

That way, if he "compromises" from his half trillion dollar request by so much as a nickel, he can cast himself as being accommodating and making reasonable concessions, while simultaneously lambasting a Dem Congress for being soft on defense, all the while still getting ten times more money for his miltaristic wet dreams than any sane country's military needs. It's a win-win situation for him all around. I'm surprised he stopped at $500 billion, why not ask for a nice even trillion?

[focusfan]

10. i wouldn't give Bush nothing

but a hard time

[ClintonTyree]

11. Screw the Pentagon....

it's about time someone said NO to them! :grr: NO, you CANNOT have more money to devise new and exciting ways to kill people. Get your fucking house in order. Account for the money you have. You've "lost" billions of dollars. :eyes: Not one fucking penny more until you account for every cent the American taxpayer gives you, you fucking blood sucking ghouls.

Screw the Pentagon. They're nothing but a monetary black hole, sucking in every dollar that comes anywhere near it, never to be seen or accounted for again. :mad: Assholes!