It will pay for itself once the oil starts flowing.

Yeah, right!

Thank you George (the Dufus) Bush, and the Dick Cheney!

Balls to the Wall:

As I read this, I wondered how loud the screams would have been for this huge blunder if it happened 4 or 5 years ago. Please read again:

According to the report, the embassy plans to turn over the $108 million Baghdad Police College Annex to Iraqis by the end of the year and will stop training at a $98 million site at the U.S. consulate in the southern city of Basra. Additionally, the number of advisers has been cut by nearly 90 percent - from 350 to 36.

"A major lesson learned from Iraq is that host country buy-in to proposed programs is essential to the long-term success of relief and reconstruction activities. The (Police Development Program) experience powerfully underscores that point," auditors wrote in a 41-page summary of their inspection. An advance copy was provided to The Associated Press.

"An overarching question is why expensive construction was initiated at both of these facilities without a formal programmatic agreement in place at the time construction began," the report stated.

You didn't disappoint me by blaming this on the former administration when it is directly the failure of the Obama administration.

You guys just don't get it, do you? Obama is the president and the one responsible for this failure. He is steering the ship today. This is his failure.

OWN IT!

concernedone

You guys just don't get it, do you? Obama is the president and the one responsible for this failure. He is steering the ship today. This is his failure.

Who started the illegal war IRAQ in the first place? Obama? How quickly people FORGET that it was BUSH that started this war, and left it to the Obama Administration to clean it up. We wouldn't have spent Trillions on this war if it was never started.

P.S. Article 1 of the US Consitution. Who is responsible for spending in this country?

coverndone,

the program was designed 5 years ago. GW Bush was president. Did you forget?

The real question in this article should be...just who gave the go ahead for the construction of anything..and who in the USA benefited from all that money to nowhere ? How many in congress got lobby money to ok the deals made..and what companies made huge profits from the shoddy work that was done ? And then...how were the congressional people tied to each company ? And last of all..just who gave the go ahead to do the training of a people that did not want it to start with ? Someone made a ton of money for this wasted spending...the tax payers surely have a right to know just where this all got started and by whom.

You Right-wing uninformed mouthpieces make me laugh. Do your homework before you run off at the mouth. This Bush/Cheney Iraq mess cost the taxpayers billions and billions of wasted dollars. The only winners were Cheney's defense contractor buddies.

This police training program was all developed by the Bush/Cheney clan. A member of my family (a retired police captain) has been employed in this training effort for years.... since before Obama took office. The contractors and employees involved in the effort were required to keep everything secret while they made a fortune in this wasted effort. Much of the income was free of any federal taxes. Another Cheney scam.

It's so sad to hear these stories of fraud, waste and abuse. Just think if all that money were spent on something so simple and well needed like our infrastructure. This is the price the people pay when you belong to a military nation.

Dave and ivan hit the nail on the head.

This is SO important. Many (if not all) of those Defense Contractors were in league with the Bush/Cheney administration to siphon as much of our tax money as possible into private hands.

I learned about this from reading The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein. She documents and explains what happened in Iraq pretty clearly in Part 6. But she wrote the book five years ago, and it would not be at all surprising to learn that much more has come to light since then.

And concernedone, I voted for Obama, too. I, too, feel disappointed that so much of what I had hoped for has not come to pass. However, I place the blame almost entirely on the Norquist-bound Republicans in Congress for that.

Almost, because the banking fiasco and the President's hope for bipartisan legislation during the first two years also contributed to it. But we would be in much worse shape had the Republicans won the 2008 election.

This war is and always has been mismanaged. That is why we will never be able to discern benefit. The waste is systematic and beneficial to the private contractors. The waste has become the reason for war.

to: BiggerGovtisTheAnswer

Undocumented Aliens cannot apply for food stamps. They don't qualify for any Public Assistance except for education for children and emergency medical care. You are very gullible and misinformed.

A pee hole in the snow compared to the total we have wasted in that region since 911- Now, Mitt is pledging more lives and treasure in our support of Israel. I have two sons in the military, on active duty. Mitt has none of the 5 anywhere near a military base.

The only thing people over there hate worse than each other, is the USA!

The Iraqi war. A most magnificent study in the art of stupidity, initiated and conducted by a pack of fools. Gwad!, if we could market the bullsh^t of foolishness at a penny a lb, our spillage would wipe out our national debt in just a few years, and We would retain plenty for our own sustenance.

Every dollar wasted (and much worse, every life lost) can be pin pointed back to the heartless Dick Cheney and his ignorant mouthpiece, George "W"orst President In History Bush.

That being said;

_____________________________________________________

Barack Obama Promise to End War;

"I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the
time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home.
We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank. "

- Barack Obama Campaign Promise - October 27, 2007

_________________________________________________________

It is time we citizens unite and clean house.

The sad fact is we have no good alternative in the next election.

obama/romney might as well be one party of equally bad options.

They both stink.

Undocumented Aliens cannot apply for food stamps. They don't qualify for any Public Assistance except for education for children and emergency medical care. You are very gullible and misinformed.

Welfare fraud. Ever hear of that? Who's niave and gullible?

concernedone

Obama is responsible for the United States of America as our President. He is certainly accountable for the direction this country is going to take. However, let's not FORGET the role that Congress has in this country (or lack their of), and that the debacles and failures of EVERY single previous administration and Congress prior to Obama.

The biggest issue with you righities, is you think Obama had a clean slate the minute he took office. HE DIDN'T. He was handed a 'perfect' storm, and the GOP doesn't want to take ownership for anything they ever do either.

biggerGovtIsTheAnswer

think off all the food stamps we could buy for the illegals with that money.

Think of all the corporations that could have benefited from with this money. After all, corporations are people right?

So lets agree this is Bush's fault an call it a day.

Now the 200 million is less than Solyndra, and way less than the abuse and fraud that happens is in Medicare and SS.

Now lets ignore what much is wasted by one party or the other and look a little deeper and see who actually wastes money.

ding, ding, ding, the bigger the federal Government the more money that is wasted, doesn't matter the party. Yet some of you continue to vote for more waste and fraud.

By voting for more Government programs and you are voting for more waste and fraud, but cheering for Obama care you are cheering for waste and Fraud, by cheering for Med D (Bush again) you were voting for more waste and Fraud. By voting for no child left behind (Bush again), you cheered for more waste and fraud.

Do we even need to say if you liked the Stimulus you like waste and fraud?

Pennsylvania Dave...you are the one who is misinformed! Someone just posted here last week, a link to a story where our government has a program with the Mexian government that is solely to teach Mexican immigrants (legal or illegal) how to sign up for assistance programs, INCLUDING food stamps! I can't remember the link, but I read it with MY OWN TWO EYES! I could not belieive it, but it us TRUE!

$200M is chump change when talking about wasted money on Iraq. The US should stop sending all foreign aid to questionable countries altogether. How much did we GIVE to Pakistan who ended up actually aiding Bin Ladin? I say F the middle east and stop sending them billions of $$$ every year. Let these nut jobs learn to coexist on their own or perish.

Bush Dumbass Jr and Dick the Head Cheney were the worst thing America ever had happen to it. Obama to his credit did not get into Lybia and is holding fast on Syria. Let these scorched sand countries work out their own problems. Democracy works for America, not necessarily for places in the middle east. Obama isnt perfect, but considering the alternative, what choice do we really have?

I see we're still paying for the Bush administration stupidity. We should never have went into Iraq. It's cost us trillions of dollars for nothing. It is still a screwed up country that hates America so nothing has changed.

Itsabouttime - "Think of all the corporations that could have benefited from with this money. After all, corporations are people right?"

Do you have any money saved in IRA's or a 401(k)?

If so then you are part of corporations, and if so I bet you would like to see that money grow so someday you have enough to retire.

Do you not think that You (a stake holder in a corporation) should be able to the same things the unions do? I hope the corporations I have money invested in can defend themselves from what the unions are trying to do to them.

But not you of course you obviously want the money you invested to turn into a pile of poo? right?

Clue- "Expensive" and "Shoddy" construction. The main reason any party creates a war is to make money. By the time any amount has made it to the intended construction unknown multiples of hands have taken millions just to oversee it. This is how politicians pay back their bribes to get in office, the main problem with our country. It is elections fueld by bribes that must be paid back and repacious greed that just keeps the process going. The end result is a government full of people just trying to get rich, nothing else. It won't change no matter who you elect. Not re electing anyone and promoting the fact that we want lobbying, special interest, and lifelong benefits and pay eliminated or we won't re elect will. Instead you buffoons tirelessly argue the Dem vs Rep issue they have baited you with ad nauseum. You buy it all hook line and sinker and the results will always be the same. Rich guys taking bribes from other rich guys to get elected and then split all the spoils between aforementioned rich guys. Now go back to your petty party squabble that plays right into their hands......

So Pat you are saying one team isn't Perfect and the other is horrible?

You are going to piss off allot of people on here. Because most on here think their team (Party) can do no wrong and everything is the other teams (Party) fault.

Even when there team does the same exact thing as the other team.

Now these fools want to hand us "now you see it now you don't" Romney!

What do people not get about the Iraqi war? We originally invaded the county because the government thought they were building "weapons of mass destruction" and once they discovered no such weapons, they changed the purpose of the war to "save the Iraqi people". The fact is the current war is a cover-up for a mistake. We have been at war for a decade and are now drowning in debt.

All the monies spent on Iraqi wars were a waste down the drain.

Net results of Saudi, Kuwait, UAE, oil companies and their lobbyists directed 1991 and 2003 Iraqi wars are

WINNERS

1. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE and other rich ME sharks became richer by manipulating oil prices too high.

2. Oil companies and their lobbyists also benefitted. Oil prices, which were hardly $30 a barrel before 1991, shot up to $140 a barrel.

3. Since 2003, future traders, rating agencies, Wall Street and oil companies and their lobbyists transferred five trillion dollars from oil importing countries to oil exporting nations.

4. Rich Sunni ME sharks (Saudi Arabia in particular) funded Salaffi and Wahhabi mosques and Islamic radicals and terrorists all over the world. These Sunni Islamic radicals and terrorists are rampaging all over the world. World’s 80 percent of problems are due to them.

LOSERS

1. General US and European nations’ public. There have been high unemployment, cut in welfare measures, housing market collapse and more miseries. Since 2001, US spent three trillion dollars on Iraq and Afghan wars. Did the Saudis and co foot the bill?

2. Poor soldiers killed and injured and their families. In Iraq and Afghan wars 6300 soldiers were killed and 40000 injured.

3. High budget deficits and heavier borrowing. Many nations (PIIGS) and people are on line to bankruptcy!

4. Iraq will plunge into bloody sectarian civil wars leading to the creation of Shiastan, Sunnistan and Kurdistan. Here the losses are of Iraqis.

"The reconstruction of Iraq, Bush administration officials predicted before the war, will pay for itself."

Well, it that case it was Iraq's money that was wasted.

Tom, the unions don't use their members money to send jobs overseas. As far as 401k's, that money is being used to send jobs overseas. Why is it that everyone is screaming about union money being used to influence elections, when it is PAC money, not 410k money. There are regulations on that money. There are no regulations on how much money a company can use, or why they can use the employees money without their consent. You now need consent for union dues, and it's now PAC money.

Don't worry, Mitt is gonna make every thing ok. He has a plan for ending the wars and fixing the healthcare crisis, right ?....right ?....Mitt..? hello Mitt ?

Larry-2260635

Reconstruction can be looked at from 2 sides. From the Iraqi side, the government is using oil revenues to rebuild many things, and create new services. Money is absolutely flowing once again from the flow of oil. Revenues are (in part) being used to rebuild a new Iraq.

From the American perspective, that oil revenue has not paid one dime toward our internal military expenses. However, we had continued to dump billions into building malls, water distribution, sewer distribution, fire services, etc... For some reason we can't just say "no". To show what good people we are, we continue to dump money into the system.

While reconstruction is ongoing at the expense of oil sales, the United States has only recently decided to allow the Iraqi's to take on the lead role. Eventually, their role will be exclusive - if that hasn't already came to pass as this messy situation winds down.

As with all matters of war, this transition has taken time. First you crawl, then walk, then you run. Nothing is instantaneous.

Millions upon millions being spent by corporate interests in this campaign, yet nothing invested in American infrastructure, nor will it be since corporate America doesn't invest in infrastructure, they are beneficiaries of government largesse. We need a big picture solution, right now people are paying the government to safeguard their money, treasury bonds are at a negative% yeild, it is the perfect opportuntity for America to fix our badly deterioriting road systems, and upgrade our outdated electrical power distribution grid. If we invest now we will save in the future.

200 m? No problem, just raise our taxes AGAIN

Tom - Plymouth-3672298

I work for a corporation and yes, I enjoy watching my 401K grow. However, my 401k should not GROW because a corporation gets a 'tax credit' when it offshores to jobs to another country. If they want to move jobs offshore, fine, but why do we I have to pay higher taxes because of it and reward them for doing it?

Corporations, Unions, doesnt matter to me, are not PEOPLE and they both have greed and corruption that need to be addressed.

Oh, the billions of dollars weren't wasted.

Large American companies profited off that.

Or was that the plan all along?

Demme, companies send jobs overseas because it is cheaper, it might be labor or it might be less regulation that is cheaper, but they are doing it so their investors get a better return on their money.

Corporations use their money so they have a better environment to make money.

Unions use their money so they have a better environment to make money.

And yet somehow you think this is different

It's goood to run these stories right about now for alll the people who might be tempted to vote for ROmney - which would be GWBIII by any and allll estimates.

There is something we can all do about this. We need a moderate 3rd party. These two parties give us Prince Harry, Queen Pelosi, McConnell the moron and Orangeman. I would not trust any of these clowns with my car keys let alone to make a good decision that was not filled with a payoff for themselves.

We need a moderate 3rd party for all of us who are ready to insist on defunding as much of the federal government as we can, as every single department wastes billions. This is a founded accusation. The CBO estimates our government wastes more than $100 billion annually. We have an Attorney General who was the lawyer for Corzine, and Corzine's frim "misplaced" $1.6 billion. It's just "missing". Is the Attorney General investigating? Nope.

And every administration has had some kind of criminal activity as far back as I can remember. Why? BECAUSE THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT is the POT OF GOLD.

The only way we reduce fraud abuse and criminality is to reduce the pot of gold, return the money and power to the states, counties and cities. Certainly there will still be some bad behavior. BUT, it is much more difficult to steal $1 - 100 billion if you don't have that money concentrated in a city where millions are pocket change, and billions are a daily cost of doing business.

The federal government experiment has gone awry. We must reduce the size and scope of our federal government. Close 80% of our military bases around the world, end the military aid around the world, and reduce the cost of doing business.

Nearly everything the government does except for national border / military protection can be better handled at the state or local level.

This is the only answer, as these two parties have proven they only care about their own jobs, their own money, and lying to us to get and keep both.

THANK YOU BUSHCO!!! GREAT JOB!!!!!!!

wehre is the tea party yelling about this? oh thats right, they love guns and war and war profiteering.

where is the cost per minute analysis of romneys embarrassing trip overseas? oh thats right, its only if its obama.

Beliverof - I am guessing nothing.

But where is the tea party you ask? Pissed just like every time Government pissing money away.

I will ask you the same question on Solyndra? were were you and the rest of the libs?

The difference between the Tea Party and the libs? The Tea Party doesn't care which party you belong to, if you are growing Government and wasting our money we don't like you, the Libs on the other hand praise their party for doing the same thing that the Repubs do.

Here we sit. Bickering like little children...

THIS IS THE FAULT OF THE POLITICIANS AND THEIR SUPPORTERS; YOU!

You people know why the folks in the Middle East hate us? Because we LET these politicians do WHATEVER they want with no repercussion at all. People have no guts to actually stand up and fight. Oh, I might butt hurt someone's feelings.. Blast away trolls because that's all you have.. NO GUTS, just shallow words..

I see the left wing is out in force today. Just mentioned war waste and they come out to bash.

I hate wasting any money, but the government, especially under Obama, is becoming more and more wasteful because the media and both parties let it happen.

Has anybody on this site ever taken the time to read through all the projects that got billions of dollars of stimulus? We spent nearly 1 trillion on that misguided venture and have little to show for it because the money was just poorly spent. So there was NO ROI.

Obama said in the beginning of the stimulus that all spending would stimulate the economy. That is probably true on SHORT TERM BASIS because people do get hired for those projects. The issue is when millions are spent on empty buildings, old railroad buildings, turtle crossings, bridges to nowhere, then nobody can see the benefits and there is no ROI.

All grants are not the same. If you use stimulus money to extend an airport runway, but there isn't enough money to keep up the airport and allow plane travel, then that is wasteful spending which is what happens routinely with this administration.

Recently, Gov Ca wanted to bring back the Clinton era requirement that those receiving welfare must sign up for training. I would go one step further and demand each person must go to work to get paid, but I digress. The state congress in CA refused to bring back that requirement because they said it was pointless since there weren't any jobs anyway.

The billions wasted in Iraq pale to the waste we see weekly in this country under all presidents, but made much worse by Obama.

Last years it was reported by our government auditors that approx 150 billion was overpayments for medicare, medicaid, unemployment etc. Are the libs upset about this? NOPE.

.

The US blase attitude of 'oh well...' is too little, too late. What a waste of either taxpayer $$$ OR better yet, $$$ loans from China. These funds could very well have gone to Americans here at home....

Disgusting action on the part of Americans and well-heeled Iraqi contractors who are laughing all the way to the bank!

Can't we all just get along, NOT.

During Bush years, republican sen Coleman was head of Committee to investigate any fraud/wrongdoings in Iraq war. He did not investigate anything, just to protect Bush/Cheney. Tim Pawlentey was supposed to have run for that Senate job. Bush team came to Mn and told Timmy to step aside for Coleman. Bush got the person in place he wanted so as not to investigate Iraq! Hundreds of millions of dollars in cash on skids disappeared. Coleman went on junket trips instead all over the world.

Obama/Biden 2012

9kman....we got into the Iraq war because Bush Cheney lied. Cheney lied because of war profits, Bush lied because he wanted "to be known as a war president." See my post below for the article that shows hundreds of documented lies by Bush Cheney. Bush alone gave the approval for the lies.

Tom.....the teabaggers do care only about not blaming the repubs for the cause of lying into war. They protect the repubs who vote to take away their voting rights,their social security,their medicare/aid, the post office, etc. Teabaggers only complain about anyone who is not rt winger. Teabaggers vote against their own self interests to protect republicans screw ups!

Yes Bush started it but Obama has no wish to finish it or he would.

Declare victory and leave so they can get their lives back together.

Hey, you (plural).

Your political party sucks.

U.S. auditors have concluded that more than $200 million was wasted on a program to train Iraqi police that Baghdad says is neither needed nor wanted.

The Government does nothing well as far as frugality of spending....NOTHING.

Star sailer that BS and you know it.

Ask the RHINO repubs how much the tea party likes them?

Teabaggers vote for the candidates that follow the idea of small Government and state rights.

It is funny how the libs hate Bush yet every piece of crap that he passed was completely bi-partisan. (The war, Med D, no child left behind)

and if you say the Bush tax cuts, I will assume you send the 5% back you got.

FYI - Bush sucked, PBO sucks worse and Mit would only suck a bit less than them two.

But of course your boys haven't lied and everything they promised didn't happen because of the other team, right?

Give it a rest!

$200 million is just a drop in the bucket when it comes to wasted money in Iraq

Pfffttttt! It's just a drop in the bucket when it comes to wasted money in our government.

The federal government made at least $92 billion in improper payments in 2010.

Washington spends $25 billion annually maintaining unused or vacant federal properties.

Government auditors spent the past five years examining all federal programs and found that 22 percent of them–costing taxpayers a total of $123 billion annually–fail to show any positive impact on the populations they serve.

Fraud related to Hurricane Katrina spending is estimated to top $2 billion. In addition, debit cards provided to hurricane victims were used to pay for Caribbean vacations, NFL tickets, Dom Perignon champagne, “Girls Gone Wild” videos, and at least one sex change operation.

A Department of Agriculture report concedes that much of the $2.5 billion in “stimulus” funding for broadband Internet will be wasted.

Shall I go on?

You Liberals/Progressives are such fiscal hawks when it comes to the military, which by the way is one of the Enumerated Powers in our Constitution, but you allow hundreds of billions in waste, fraud, abuse and corruption to go unchecked or unquestioned.

$200 million is a rounding error for any of the above examples of waste in our government.

Your delusion is only surpassed by your hypocrisy.

The enemy of the state holds the highest office in the land. BOZO goes home after nov. The only question is just where IS home?

Let's not forget the 9 billion (*cough*) supposedly lost when Bush sent us in and handed it out in wheelbarrows, with no record of who received it.

Let's not forget the Billions made by Blackwater (Xe) who provided security and should have been enlisted from our citizens instead of us paying their people 90 times as much as our soldiers would have costed us!

Let's not forget the billions made by Cheney's Halliburton while he made dividends off the profits, while getting non-competitive contracts. You think there wasn't some graft going on there?

Romney engages the same Neo-Con advisors that Bush had advising him, so we know what his plans are for Iran, when elected....more war, less funding!

Tea Party Republicans, claiming they hate big government never made a peep when Bush increased the size of the programs exponentially, and refused to fund them, but not one kind word has been said about the decrease in public sector jobs under Obama...not one! Maybe Republicans just claim to like small government, while they collect their medicare benefits, social security, and claim to be against the lifestyle they can still afford with those same programs.

Was the Tea Party against big government when it cheered the Republican governors for firing teachers, firemen, policemen and refused to fund all union contracts in an effort to diminish the power of unions in selecting the next president?

Did they cheer when all the certified workers were replaced with untrained non-union labor, that ultimately costs more than the union workers would have? You bet they did!

The Tea Party is just the wacko wing of the Republican party who would endorse anything Republicans do and never endorse any Republican programs continued under the Obama adminiistration (like the gun sting operations Bush started in Arizona, that Republican Issa is now attacking the Democrats over, in efforts to embarrass them.

With Republicans in America, we are on a one way street that reverses direction whenever a Democrat, whether he is competent or not, takes office. Anything Obama continues is wrong and Republicans now hate their own ideas in an effort to oppose him!

They refuse to give any Democrat any respect, whether deserved or not, as shown when Osama Bin Ladin was removed! Republicans headed for the hills, hoping our citizens would not notice it was a Democratic Leader that successfully did what Republicans ignored and failed to do, after losing Bin Laden in Tora Bora!

Republicans are a genuine piece of work, whether they are the religious right wackos who refuse a place for gays to pray or marry. Republicans are a piece of work, who promote attacks on women's rights to equal pay, access to healthcare in the form of contraception, and the decades old fight against the right for a woman to have an abortion.

Claims by Republicans of being the moral majority are impossible to believe when so many proudly strut their racist attitudes against the blacks who came here, without booking passage!

What is good about John Boehner's control of the House of Representatives, when he blocks bills for infrastructure (that will never be cheaper to finance than right now), but John refuses because it might make Obama look good?

What more do we need to know about Romney or the Republicans?

Republicans and Democrats should join together to stop Republican attacks on our culture and our children's futures! Get out there and vote! Let your voices be heard!

Wow Jack you do live in a fantasy world.

The Tea Party hated Bush for growing Government.
The Tea Party hated the Patriot act.

The Tea Party hated Med D.

The The Party hated no child left behind.

The The Party hated the Bank Bail outs.

The Tea Party hated Freddie and Fannie.

The Tea Party hates any big Government be it by the Repubs or the Dems, Blacks or White, gay or straights.

Kettle black much Jack? You claim Boehner blocks bills yet refuse to acknowledge Reid doing the same exact thing.

PBO was elected for Hope and change, he got it his first two years, the America decided it didn't like his hope and change and sent the Rupubs to stop his hope and change, and now you and him whine and cry because he isn't getting everything damn thing he wants.

Of course he isn't America said STOP the growing of Government and Spending money we don't have in 2010, yet you and him are either too stupid to understand that, or just plain deaf.

You talk about infrastructure, what the "F" was the stimulus plan for? How do we pay for infrastructure when we borrower 40 cents of every dollar we spend? My guess is you will say tax the rich, but that can't be the answer to any problem let alone every problem, why you ask? because taxing the people making over 100K at 99%, we will still be have to borrower around 15 cents of every dollar we spend.

Jack-295117

You realize the TEA Party wasn't created until 2009, right? Although it wasn't even conceived many of us Conservatives have been screaming about big government when Tip O'Neill would always promise spending cuts to get Reagan to raise taxes and never did. We screamed during the irrational exuberance of the dot-com bubble to pay more of the debt off, to no avail. We screamed when Bush became a RINO and began spending like a drunk Liberal. Finally we had to organize, and we did. Perhaps you Liberals should try cleaning your house and our government to get out of this economic Armageddon also.

Or are you convinced that adding $5.1 trillion dollars to the debt in 3 1/2 years is actually a good thing?

My question is WHAT THE HELL should we have done?? I was opposed to the Bi-Partisan authorized use of military force to remove Saddam, but once the wheels were set in motion I did everything I could to make our mission a success, including returning to the military at the lowest point of the conflict (2005, going on active duty in 2006), at an age where many Service Members have retired (43) !!

The bottom line is what is the real purpose of these "revelations", to point out actual mistakes in the hopes we don't repeat them or add another chapter to the full length novel "Blaming it All on Bush" a BEST SELLER in Democrat circles since 2003 !!!

Absolutely. The base line budgeting by government needs to end and departments should have incentives to NOT spend.

Same attitude as the other story on the $3B for Abrams tank mods. Pentagon says we don't want or need. Congressional chickehawks say well yes you do!

Kevin- I read that story too. It's all about kickbacks for the lawmakers, it doesn't matter if it's for the greater good- it's all about lining their pockets.

We need to 'clean house' in Congress...PERIOD!!!

For spending that much amount on US welfare, there will be huge budget battles!

When the U.S. couldn't get anything in writing, they should have taken the hint these training programs weren't wanted, & cut their losses before they spent as much as they did. Surely they could have stopped way before it reached $200mill.

More to the point, $1,000,000,000,000 (one trillion dollars) was wasted on this colossal misadventure by G.W. Bush and Dick Cheney. The disastrous decision to begin this wholly unnecessary war will stand in history as the precipitating event that sent the U.S.A. on the road to financial ruin.

Can we lay this gracefullly at the feet of our former fecklesss Chief Executive from Texas?

nope, totally obamas fault. wheres them wmd's????

when obama started this war the repubicans tried to warn him funding it without tax increases and during tax breaks for the rich would lead to a big deficit!!!!

obama was WARNED!!!

zephyr - with a government that overspends $1.2 - $1.5 Trillion yearly, you think $1 trillion in spending spread out over 10 years was the precipitating event? Do you realize much of that money went directly back into our own economy?

I am not in anyway saying this was a good idea, but we (80%) of Americans supported this war. As for the WMD's, there was ample evidence that they were involved in chemical weapons development despite what the average internet poster claims. But all that aside, you must be joking if you think $100 billion annually was the precipitating event when these fools have been overspending by more than $1 trillion a year ever since the Democrats came into power in Congress in 2007.

Keep this in mind while you are being blinded by partisanship:

Lyndon B Johnson in 1965 began Medicare. He said at the time that the program would cost no more than $500 million, and if it did cost more, he would be considered a damn fool.

They estimated at the time that by 1990 the cost would be $12 billion. The actual cost in 1990 was $107 billion. By 2008, $599 billion, or more than 1000x more, in 43 short years. Show me one thing that costs 1000x more today than in 1965.

So while the war was a financial disaster, and should have ended years ago, as should our military presence around the world, Medicare alone spends more than 400% more than this war debacle.

I am not arguing against Medicare, I am arguing that federal programs are cesspools of waste, fraud, criminality and abuse. Our federal government should be 20% the size that is is today. All of the ridiculous and wasteful programs and even the necessary programs should be handled by the states, counties and cities. Every time a new federal program begins, billions of dollars in waste are created with it.

War or peace it cost a lot of money to keep the military running. Lackland AFB in 1978 alone cost $1 million a day and that was 34 yrs. ago. We have over 1000 bases worldwide, and who knows how much it costs to keep that. I would like to know why we need 200 bases in Germany. No wonder their economy is booming.

Wasted lives and wasted money. I place the wasted lives above the money. Blame clearly on Bush and Cheney for lying nation into war. Yes, repubs and dems given known false intel for years by Bush Cheney team. While at same time Bush/Cheney team and repubs calling everyone who did not march to their war drums, cowards and unpatriotic. Don't waste your time showing quotes from dems who fell for the lies. Colin Powell fell for them too! It is why he quit the cabinet and votes for Obama.

Independent Study Finds Bush "Unequivocally" Lied U.S. into War with Iraq

By

Frank J. Ranelli (about the author)

opednews.com

A nonprofit collaboration of two independent, non-governmental organizations has concluded that President Bush used at least 532 misleading and deceptively false statements to justify military action against Iraq. In all, the Bush administration as a whole used a mind-numbing 935 false statements to goad America into war with Iraq. Calling their findings "an orchestrated deception on the path to war," the partnership report may very well be the first fully comprehensive investigation that incontrovertibly proves the Bush administration lied this nation into an unfounded war.

The Center for Public Integrity and the Fund for Independence in Journalism determined, through a collective study and breakdown of Bush administration speeches, press briefings and interviews, that Bush and other top officials "led the nation to war on the basis of erroneous information."

According to the report, Bush alone lied more than 259 times, including 232 false statements "about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq" and "28 about Iraq's links to al-Qaida." Quoting Charles Lewis and Mark Reading-Smith of the Fund for Independence in Journalism, "It is now beyond dispute that Iraq did not possess any weapons of mass destruction or have meaningful ties to al-Qaida." Furthermore, the shared study noted, "the statements were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses."

Among the seven top officials cited, Colin Powell was the most egregious in the dispersal of dissembling and mendacious language regarding the requisite call for war against Iraq. Powell is attributed to having made 244 false statements about weapons of mass destruction in a two-year period beginning on September 11, 2001 and through the commencement of military action in Iraq on March 18, 2003.

As a microcosm example of at least 935 lies cataloged by the exhaustive study, Vice President Dick Cheney declared on August 26, 2002 that "Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction." Bush's patently false proclamation, made on May 29, 2003, "We have found the weapons of mass destruction," has now been completed discredited. Of course, no weapons of mass destruction were ever found and George Bush, on NBC's Meet the Press in 2004 conceded, "No weapons of mass destruction had been found in Iraq."

In a never-ending stream of fuzzy rationales to justify war, beginning as early as November of 2001, the Bush administration began making disingenuous statements attempting to tie Saddam to the attackers of 9/11. Quoting Bush, "They're both risks, they're both dangerous. The difference, of course, is that Al Qaeda likes to hijack governments. Saddam Hussein is a dictator of a government. Al Qaeda hides, Saddam doesn't, but the danger is, is that they work in concert." However, in stark contrast, the 9/11 Commission Report was unable to establish any "evidence indicating that Iraq cooperated with Al Qaeda in developing or carrying out any attacks against the United States."

The comprehensive study also touches on and illuminates the vast failures of the mainstream media; mainly their failure to offer critical scrutiny, while chiefly operating as Bush's surrogate and disseminator in the misleading rhetoric of the dire need to take the country to war. During that critical, seminal juncture in the run up to the war, the media "creating an almost impenetrable din" that forced out nearly all dissenting views, the report revealed.

In what may be the first true, categorical "War Report Card" that separates fact from fiction, fine tunes mass distortion into utter clarity, the Center for Public Integrity makes a compelling case that "Following 9/11, President Bush and seven top officials of his administration waged a carefully orchestrated campaign of misinformation about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq."

_______

To learn more and read the full report, visit on the web:

Center For Public Integrity: http://www.publicintegrity.org/default

"Politics in America is identical to pro wrestling. In front of the crowd, in front of TV, they pretend they hate each other. They pretend like they are big adversaries and that's the sell job they do to us, the citizens. Just like pro wrestling, my job was to go out and piss everybody off so bad they would pay their hard earned money to go out and see me get my butt kicked. Well, the point is, we are all friends in the locker room. We all work together. It's entertainment. We put on a show and this is no different. They are putting on a show, because behind the scenes, they are all friends. They go out to dinner together and cut their deals together. It's a show." - Jesse Ventura

Everyone's political argument on here is pointless. Nevertheless, The Saddam Hussein Regime needed to be dismantled just based on how he and his sons treated their people.

Back from the 70's is when the jokes about the $1200 toilet seats started. A contract for the military for Boeing when audited showed charges of $1200 for toilet seats, $700 for a hammer and 70 dollars each for hand held communication devices also known as pencils. Nothings changed.

Right. American Legion Magazine just printed an article crying about the loss of US military strength. Meaning budget cuts for the US military. So why don't they hunt down and expose the dirtbag in the US gubmint that authorized the losses like this one in Iraq and Afghan. The US lost enough money in these two stinkholes to fund the US mil budget for a year or two. But the military folks who cry about loosing their budget don't want to show backbone and call out the sob's who ruined their program. They still believe it's 1980 and all they have to do is make a "needs based argument" and somehow the rest of us will come up with the money - again. Of course new losses will waste the new money we give them. They never figured they should take care of their assets. IT's always been easier to just let the waste happen and go get new money from the taxpayers. They have no idea the gravey train is off the rails. Such is the level of thinking at military headquarters and all the contractor think tanks.

IReadyou, One would think these military planners (supposed to be smart people with all the tools at their disposal), policy planners from the State Dept (right to the top - Sec of State included), and folks from elite think tanks (Rand Corp, SAIC, Mitre, CSC, etc.) who advice the US government, would be telling the truth to the decision makers in the National Security Council that many, many and most of the projects in the so-called Iraq reconstruction programs would not work and are not needed. Even if they did, how can these decision makers go ahead and award the contracts that produce just waste and corruption and no meaningful progress for the common Iraqi man?

I was reading in MSNBC this morning that lawmakers from both parties have been forcing the US Army to spend money on M-1 Abrams tanks that the US military doesn't want. Same thing with Osprey tilt-rotor airplane and the list (money spent on unwanted military hardware and gear) goes on and on. Plus the $3 trillion spent on two un-wanted wars.

It's amazing, that a smart country such as ours and a one with the finest military machine in the world, would not learn lessons from the past and keep making mistakes after mistakes after mistakes. Only in America.

riverman- that money is yours & mine. Taxpayers are funding these aimless ambitions that translate into money stuck right back in their pockets. So next time we hear about a hammer being purchased for $3000 keep in mind, we paid for the stupidity behind it!

This is exactly the problem. Keep the blunders small enough and spread out and just hope no one adds them up. This happens because of all the behind the scenes palm greasing that goes on. Keep projects alive that should be killed, start projects that never should've. ect. Thank the lobbyists and our me first country last politicians, all of them, not just one group. Get the money out and start some accountability and this won't happen. Governments job is not to keep the masses employed yet that is always what one part of these arguments come down too. I'm all for our military being at the top of the game but there is clearly no reason the budget needs to be as high as it is. Winding down two wars is the most obvious reason the budget can come down but then add stupid things like in the article above and you have even a better reason. We can still maintain our superiority without a budget that is larger than the next 10 countries, just need to cut the BS and start holding people accountable.

It is time

If Saddam was there there would not have been as much damages as removing him.

We would not have lost huge monies and thousands of soldiers dead and more injured; oil prices could not have been manipulated sky high by bigoted Sunni Saudis and co making themselves richer; we would not have had the unchecked ramapage by Sunni Saudi Islamic radicals and terrorists (al-Qaida, MB, Taliban and other labels all over the world; and not so many Sunni Saudi Salaffi and Wahhabi mosques all around the world.

World would have been a better place without Iraqi wars.

We would not have so much debts and PIIGS in Europe.

Saddam would have kept the bigoted Sunni Saudis, Kuwaiti, Qatari, UAE and other rulers busy!

ahh the truth comes out.. of course its after he's out of office..

THANK YOU BUSHCO!!! GREAT JOB!!!!!!!

where is the tea party yelling about this? oh thats right, they love guns and war and war profiteering.

where is the cost per minute analysis of romneys embarrassing trip overseas? oh thats right, its only if its obama.

Reading how our government spends our tax dollars while eating packed leftover for lunch at work makes me feel sick to my stomach.

Some of you have posted very good comments about what is really happening with this country. It not the Dems vs Repubs, as they would have you believe. It's all about the money. The Dems are no better or worse than the Repubs. They are both robbing the US Citizen's blind, and we're all so caught up in the "My team is better than your team" BS that we allow it to happen. Without a few amendments to the constitution, where term limits are mandatory, lobbying is outlawed, and accountibility and responsibility are on the shoulders of those in charge, nothing will change. Stupidity (or insanity, take your pick) is doing the same process over and over again and expecting different results. It doesn't matter who we elect into the White House. Congress needs to be made accountable. There is a reason their approval rating is in the single digits.....We need to stop the money from buying the politicians votes. Smarten up, come together as US Citizens and DEMAND accountibility. Read between the lines (of BS they tell you) and become informed. Stop playing their game, you can not win when they make the rules.

Both parties are guilty of pushing military expenditures based on production in their states instead of what's needed but Romney as a typical republican has announced he wants to increase military funding 260 billion a year so I'd say they're worse.

The u.s. politicans simply loves putting $$ overseas. Aside from trillions of $'s wasted in the crazy wars in middle east, don't forget the billions of $'s the rich 1% americans stashed away in oversea accounts to evade u.s. taxes.

So Romney would like to stop Iran's nucear venture at all costs. So Romney would like to stand side by side with Israel to fight the middle east enemies. Where does he think the $$ for all these gonna come from with the GOP's more and more tax cuts? More unfunded wars like the gwbush/cheney era while the rich are putting more and more $$'s into their overeas accounts? We may not have a U.S.A. left if Romney and his croonies should run the country!

Perhaps they have come to see the error in their ways, and that is why they are trying to curb spending now. And please, not all republicans want to dabble in the middle east, nor did all republicans love Bush 2's spending. You allow for no intellectual growth. I would hate to be your child - "you didn't listen to what I said three years ago, so that means that you are worthless because you will never listen to anything I say."

And besides, since you obviously are enamored with the democrats, how long did it take for your beloved Fearless leader to withdraw from Iraq? Afghanistan? Oh that's right...

But, Joe~

I don't see where they've changed their ways. The Republicans are already agitating against cutting defense spending because of their failure to come up with a budget, thus triggering across the board cuts. And now they want to renege on that to save their almight golden calf the military. At least Obama is trying to withdraw and has withdrawn. The Republicans will have to find a new target to keep the military machine going - as it enriches their personal bank accounts - until it bankrupts this country.

The same place Patty Sheehan is speaking out against the Obama continuation of the A'stan War.

An "unspecified amount"- I like that. In other words, give them a blank check to continue wasting US tax dollars on nothing!

I thought that too, ProFreedom---a blank check. In add'n, I'd like to know exactly what that $200mill bought, & how much was paid per category, like I (& a lot of other people) read about $200 toilet seats, $50 pipe wrenches, etc. etc. $19mill on 4 bases, & no running water.

We have soldiers returning home with mental/emotional problems that severely affect their day-to-day living, yet mental health programs are in short supply. A few $mill tossed their way could be useful.

There are people who are held accountable for wasted funds such as this - they are called the U.S. taxpayers. They are the ones who have to foot the bill for these criminal activities.

Government has NEVER been accountable to its people.

But Obama, his agenda for bigger government, Obamacare, handouts, tax increases etc...will fix everything ;)

You sound delusional.

And you sound like a genius.

Come on, man! Didn't you read the comments above? The only reason we are still in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as a recession, while Obama has been president for almost 4 years is.... George Bush! Why is Choom Gang Obama clueless on the economy? George Bush! Why did I stub my toe this morning? George Bush!

Obama, Bush, or Dick, it doesn't matter. There are larger interests at play here, and the common denominator is money. In third world countries corruption is easy to see and point out, like bribing to get a passport or driver's license, but in America it is more insidious and hidden, but it is still there...

They paid for it? No, we the US taxpayers paid for it- they are the ones who do nothing with it because they're stuck back in the 5th century with herding goats in mind.

Saw the same when the Navy 'gave' 6 gunboats to the Saudis. We trained them in navigation. Head east in the morning into the sunrise and west in the evening into the sunset. They tried it on their own and couldn't find their way back in at night.

LOL !!!!

ProFreedom....Herding these goats is not all they do with them. hehe

You have a point...But I would rather have 500 million spent and lost in America than 200 million wasted in Iraq! The start up failed because China factories get heavy subsidies from their government so they can't fail!

WE keep doing the same thing over and over expecting a different outcome. INSANITY!

Joe66 BTW: The Solar plant was begun during the Bush administration. Way too late because by then China had captured the markets. Blame whomever you want but the facts are there regardless of your biases.

And Bush wasted $billions and 1000s of lives on an unnecessary war. Yet the same people fighting the Affordable Healthcare reform act see nothing wrong with that. Imagine if half of that money is being spent on long-suffering Americans.

Say what you like about Obama, at least he tried to solve the mess he inherited and tried working with the other side. Of course there were setbacks, but time and time again, he tried to work with a group that was determine to see him fail, regardless of the cost to the USA. Patriotism indeed. What has this congress achieved since the GOP took over?

No, not quite the plan. It's about securing the country so our oil barons can move in and start profitting off Iraqi oil. Meanwhile, gas prices continue to rise...

That old saw about "we're there for the oil" is pretty worn out. Anyone who believes that deserves four more years of incompetency.

I'm sure the amount is really.... Double that...... The US thinks it owns the Whole World ..stay out of other Countries Problems.... would be the The First step ...in the future.