Things like this make me really want to move to Canada.
Friday, 2 August, 2002, 05:07 GMT 06:07 UK
Senate backs Bush's defence budget
The total annual defence budget rises to $350bn
By Steve Kingstone
BBC correspondent in Washington
The United States Senate has approved a $35bn increase in defence spending, paving the way for the biggest expansion of the US military in two decades.
President George W Bush had asked lawmakers for the extra funding to pay for his ongoing war on terror.
Subject to final approval, the overall defence budget for the next financial year will be more than $350bn.
President Bush has increased the budget deficit
America already spends more on defence than any nation in history.
Its military budget exceeds the combined spending of its nine closest competitors and now there is more on the way.
With little debate and by 95 votes to three, the Senate approved this package.
The money will pay for helicopters, cargo aircraft, four new warships and a replacement for the Crusader cannon, which is considered too heavy for modern warfare.
There is also a 4% pay rise for all defence personnel.
That represents almost everything on the president's military shopping list.
The only dissenting note was the decision by senators to withhold a $10bn wartime contingency fund, which Mr Bush would control.
That is perhaps a reminder to the White House that lawmakers will not be overlooked when it comes to the debate on possible military action against Iraq.
Ultimately though, Mr Bush can expect to get his contingency fund when the defence bill gets final approval from both houses of Congress in the autumn.
― Mike Hanle y (mike), Monday, 3 February 2003 15:58 (twenty-two years ago)
Defense spending has always been pretty damn high one way or another for decades compared to a lot of other things in the budget -- hell, Eisenhower warned about it, I believe he was the one who actually came up with/popularized the term 'military-industrial complex,' and he wasn't speaking fondly of it. That this is a return to Reagan-era spending isn't too surprising to be sure -- it actually has been perversely amusing in a very removed-from-it-all sense to watch GOP presidents create deficits they claim to fight (less amusing to see what happens on the ground as a result) -- but I half wonder if there isn't some sort of 'hey, we outspent the Soviets, let's outspend the terrorists!' justification going on. Which is pretty stupid...
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 3 February 2003 16:06 (twenty-two years ago)
Do you mean "US spends billions
less on bombs than on society"?
Non-defense discretionary spending alone for 2004 will be more than the defense budget. This doesn't include mandatory spending like Social Security ($493 Billion) or Medicare & Medicaid ($440 Billion).
― Stuart, Monday, 3 February 2003 16:48 (twenty-two years ago)
What frustrates me most is not the increases in defense spending, which i expected, but rather the fact that the Republicans are still able to sell themselves as being more fiscally responsible than democrats. the biggest problem with the usa is the fact that so many americans simply believe the myths and generalizations that each party promotes. I blame both sides equally.
― Aaron Grossman (aajjgg), Monday, 3 February 2003 16:49 (twenty-two years ago)
thirteen years pass...
know your stats
Most (24,287) were dropped in Iraq and Syria. This number is based on the percentage of total coalition airstrikes carried out in 2016 by the United States in Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR), the counter-Islamic State campaign....
To determine how many U.S. bombs were dropped on each Iraq and Syria, we looked at the percentage of total U.S. OIR airstrikes conducted in each country. They were nearly evenly split, with 49.8 percent (or 2,941 airstrikes) carried out in Iraq, and 50.2 percent (or 2,963 airstrikes) in Syria. Therefore, the number of bombs dropped were also nearly the same in the two countries (12,095 in Iraq; 12,192 in Syria). Last year, the United States conducted approximately 67 percent of airstrikes in Iraq in 2016, and 96 percent of those in Syria.
http://blogs.cfr.org/zenko/2017/01/05/bombs-dropped-in-2016/
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 5 January 2017 22:32 (eight years ago)