Category: International

As Afghanistan Enters Year 9, We Tally the Cost of War

Posted on by TL

It’s time to take stock of the numbers again, as the war in Afghanistan enters its ninth year Tuesday.

Our National Debt stands at $11,930,445,364,162.68 as of this writing. That’s a tad under $12 trillion.

The Total Cost of War since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began is currently $917,149,614,395. That’s just under $1 trillion. $688,690,605,993 has been spent in Iraq, $228,459,269,025 in Afghanistan. If the numbers don’t add up, that’s because the counter at CostofWar.com is constantly moving. The total right now is $917,150,203,805.

Yes, they’re pretty accurate. Here’s more about the counters:

The numbers indicate all of the approved funding for the wars to date. In addition to this approved amount, the FY2010 budget shows a $130 billion request for more war spending. This would bring total war spending in Iraq and Afghanistan to more than $1 trillion. When all FY2010 war-related amounts are approved, we will adjust the counters so that they reach the new totals at the end of FY2010.

If you should compare the amount displayed on the Cost of War counters with the numbers available in our information sheets, please note that the information sheets include all war spending to date, the same number that the counters will reach at the end of the 2009 fiscal year.

Total War Funding since 2001

To date, $915.1 billion dollars have been allocated to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This counter is designed so that on September 30, 2009, the end of the federal government’s 2009 fiscal year, the counter will reach that total number. Likewise, counters found here for states and towns will also reach their portion of this number at the end of FY2009.

Cost of War in Iraq since 2003

To date, $687 billion dollars have been allocated to the war in Iraq since 2003. This counter is designed so that on September 30, 2009, the end of the federal government’s 2009 fiscal year, the counter will reach that total number. Please note that the cost of war in Iraq has decreased since our last estimate. This is because a larger proportion of spending was allocated to Afghanistan than originally estimated.

Cost of War in Afghanistan since 2001

To date, $228 billion dollars have been allocated to the war in Afghanistan since 2001. This counter is designed so that on September 30, 2009, the end of the federal government’s 2009 fiscal year, the counter will reach that total number. To learn more about the cost of war in Afghanistan, see our April 2009 publication.

Here’s the Cost of War in Iraq:

Here’s the Cost of War in Afghanistan:

Here is the total of both wars combined:

Now, the human loss…

4,347 Americans have died in Iraq since the war began on March 19, 2003. 3,475 of them died in combat.

869 Americans have died in Afghanistan. 219 from the UK died in Afghanistan, 356 from other countries, for a total of 1,444 dead on the coalition side.

Somewhere between 93,345 and 101,862 Iraqi civilians have died in the war in Iraq. That’s civilians. Just Foreign Policy puts the total number of civilians due to the war at 1,339,771.

The Washington Post currently lists 5,130 Americans dead in both wars, and has pictures of all of the fallen.

President Obama, these are your wars now.

Franklin D. Roosevelt: “The Economic Bill of Rights”

Posted on by TL

This was once America, rescued at last from the gilded age.

We can do this again. We can revive and seal the New Deal.

The rich were on board because they had lived through the Great Depression, and they knew a thriving middle class was the path to the future of a strong America. Less for a few meant more for all.

Let’s make this happen again.

From FDR:

It is our duty now to begin to lay the plans and determine the strategy for the winning of a lasting peace and the establishment of an American standard of living higher than ever before known. We cannot be content, no matter how high that general standard of living may be, if some fraction of our people—whether it be one-third or one-fifth or one-tenth—is ill-fed, ill-clothed, ill-housed, and insecure.

This Republic had its beginning, and grew to its present strength, under the protection of certain inalienable political rights—among them the right of free speech, free press, free worship, trial by jury, freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. They were our rights to life and liberty.

As our nation has grown in size and stature, however—as our industrial economy expanded—these political rights proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness.

We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. “Necessitous men are not free men.” People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.

In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all—regardless of station, race, or creed.

Among these are:

The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;

The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

The right of every family to a decent home;

The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;

The right to a good education.

All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.

America’s own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for our citizens.

source: The Public Papers & Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt (Samuel Rosenman, ed.), Vol XIII (NY: Harper, 1950), 40-42 

Open Wide the Gates of Justice: 9/11 Witnesses Can Sue Ashcroft

Posted on by TL

From WTAE in Pittsburgh (Always the first with the breaking news. So, kudos to them):

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals says the U.S. Attorney General may be held liable for people who were wrongfully detained as material witnesses after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

In a harshly worded 91-page ruling handed down Friday, the justices found that a man who was detained as a witness in a federal terrorism case can sue former Attorney General John Ashcroft for allegedly violating his Fourth Amendment rights.

The suit was brought forward by Abdullah Al-Kidd, a U.S. citizen and former University of Idaho student, who was detained for two weeks in 2005. Al-Kidd said he lost a scholarship and employment opportunities.

The implications of this decision are staggering.

Open wide the gates of justice, and let all who were harmed come forward.

Rachel Maddow’s Amazing Interview with Former Sec. of Homeland Security Tom Ridge

Posted on by TL

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Ridge on what happened during Katrina.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Ridge and Maddow debate the decision behind the Iraq War.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Commentary

This interview was nothing short of amazing. The exchange was brilliant on both sides. Rachel Maddow is one of the most intelligent political minds in this country. Ridge elaborates on what he wrote in his book, and answers questions calmly and directly.

Former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge appears on the show to share his interpretation of what he wrote in his book, The Test of Our Times: America Under Siege…And How We Can Be Safe Again, published today. The book is well-reviewed, and I actually may pick up a copy.

Watch the video above. Enjoy as two brilliant minds who share very different viewpoints debate and discuss.

Justice Dept. Report Advises Pursuing C.I.A. Torture Allegations

Posted on by TL

We may finally begin to see justice restored in the United States of America.

Breaking news from The New York Times:

The Justice Department’s ethics office has recommended reversing the Bush administration and reopening nearly a dozen prisoner-abuse cases, potentially exposing Central Intelligence Agency employees and contractors to prosecution for brutal treatment of terrorism suspects, according to a person officially briefed on the matter.

The recommendation by the Office of Professional Responsibility, presented to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.in recent weeks, comes as the Justice Department is about to disclose on Monday voluminous details on prisoner abuse that were gathered in 2004 by the C.I.A.’s inspector general but have never been released.

When the C.I.A. first referred its inspector general’s findings to prosecutors, they decided that none of the cases merited prosecution. But Mr. Holder’s associates say that when he took office and saw the allegations, which included the deaths of people in custody and other cases of physical or mental torment, he began to reconsider.

With the release of the details on Monday and the formal advice that at least some cases be reopened, it now seems all but certain that the appointment of a prosecutor or other concrete steps will follow, posing significant new problems for the C.I.A. It is politically awkward, too, for Mr. Holder because President Obama has said that he would rather move forward than get bogged down in the issue at the expense of his own agenda.

The advice from the Office of Professional Responsibility strengthens Mr. Holder’s hand.

The recommendation to review the closed cases, in effect renewing the inquiries, centers mainly on allegations of detainee abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Justice Department report is to be made public after classified information is deleted from it.

President Obama, it’s time to lead and let justice be served.

Bill Clinton’s Lightning Diplomacy Frees 2 Journalists Held in North Korea

Posted on by TL

This just in from the WTAE Pittsburgh:

North Korea said Tuesday that two detained American journalists have been pardoned. The announcement came after news reports that former President Bill Clinton met Tuesday with the two journalists. ABC News reported that a government source with knowledge of the mission said Clinton’s meeting with journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee was very emotional.

The source was hopeful that Ling and Lee would leave North Korea on Tuesday night for the United States, ABC reported.

Earlier, Clinton met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il during his surprise mission to Pyongyang to negotiate the release of the two reporters, holding “exhaustive” talks on a wide range of topics, state-run media said.

Clinton “courteously” conveyed a verbal message from President Barack Obama, the official Korean Central News Agency said in a report from Pyongyang. Kim expressed his thanks, and engaged Clinton in a “wide-ranging exchange of views on matters of common concern,” the report said.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, however, denied Clinton went with a message from Obama. “That’s not true,” he told reporters.

I don’t know what was said behind closed doors, but this was incredibly fast. The fact that Clinton is not a member of the Obama Administration no doubt gave him greater flexibility in dealing with Kim Jong Il.

I look forward to hearing former President Clinton speak about this trip when he returns to the United States.

I especially look forward to hearing from Laura Ling and Euna Lee.

And I am incredibly impressed.

Bill Clinton Off to North Korea to Seek Release of U.S. Reporters

Posted on by TL

From the New York Times:

Former President Bill Clinton went to North Korea on Monday to negotiate the release of two American television journalists who were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for illegally entering North Korean territory, a person who was briefed on the mission said.

Mr. Clinton landed in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, early Tuesday morning local time, Central TV, a North Korean station, reported. The White House declined to comment.

The journalists, Laura Ling, 32, and Euna Lee, 36, were detained by soldiers on March 17 near the North Korean border with China. In June, they were sentenced to 12 years in a North Korean prison camp for “committing hostilities against the Korean nation and illegal entry.”

Go for it, Bill.  Godspeed.

Read the entire story.

3 Dead, 12 Wounded at Israeli Gay Youth Center Shooting

Posted on by TL

Nod to Brad Friedman for this.

From Reuters, via the NYTimes:

Israel’s gay community was rocked on Sunday by the killing of two people in a homosexual and lesbian youth center and the possibility they fell victim to a hate crime in the Jewish state’s most freewheeling city.

“The biggest shock is to think that it happened in Tel Aviv, which is the most tolerant city in the country,” said Avi Sofer, a gay rights activist.

Witnesses said a masked gunman clad in black opened fire on Saturday night in a basement club belonging to the Tel Aviv Gay and Lesbian Association, which was hosting a weekly event for teenage gays.

The attacker killed a 26-year-old man and a 16-year-old girl and wounded 13 people before fleeing, hospital officials said.

“He simply fired all over the place,” Or Gil, 16, told the YNet news website. “At first I thought it was prank, or a toy gun. After the killings, it was quiet, completely silent and then people came to help the wounded.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu condemned the attack, telling his cabinet: “We are a tolerant, democratic country governed by the rule of law and we must respect each and every person.”

I found this quite interesting:

Despite anti-gay sentiments among some religious Jews in Israel, gays serve openly in the military. Israel accords same-sex couples a measure of legal recognition and cohabitation rights, though Orthodox religious authorities control formal nuptials in the country.

The whole episode is quite sad.

FBI’s Edmonds: Bin Laden Worked for U.S. Until 9/11

Posted on by TL

What a bombshell.

From The Brad Blog:

During my recent interview with FBI translator-turned-whistleblower Sibel Edmonds on the Mike Malloy Show, a caller had asked her opinion on whether she believed 9/11 to have been “an inside job.”

Edmonds replied by first specifying “As I have done for the past 7 or 8 years, I have basically stuck with what I know, first-hand, directly, my own knowledge, based on my own experience, based on what I obtained, which is not a lot, but it is extremely important.”

After explaining the difference between what she does and doesn’t know first hand, she went on to explain: “I have information about things that our government has lied to us about. I know. For example, to say that since the fall of the Soviet Union we ceased all of our intimate relationship with Bin Laden and the Taliban – those things can be proven as lies, very easily, based on the information they classified in my case, because we did carry very intimate relationship with these people, and it involves Central Asia, all the way up to September 11.” …

Her complete response, pulled from the lengthy interview (full, commercial-free audio here) has been transcribed by Luke Ryland, perhaps the world’s foremost expert in all things Sibel Edmonds related.

From Luke Ryland on the Daily Kos:

Former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds dropped a bombshell on the Mike Malloy radio show, guest-hosted by Brad Friedman (audio, partial transcript).

In the interview, Sibel says that the US maintained ‘intimate relations’ with Bin Laden, and the Taliban, “all the way until that day of September 11.”

These ‘intimate relations’ included using Bin Laden for ‘operations’ in Central Asia, including Xinjiang, China. These ‘operations’ involved using al Qaeda and the Taliban in the same manner “as we did during the Afghan and Soviet conflict,” that is, fighting ‘enemies’ via proxies.

Luke’s summary:

The bombshell here is obviously that certain people in the US were using Bin Laden up to September 11, 2001.

It is important to understand why: the US outsourced terror operations to al Qaeda and the Taliban for many years, promoting the Islamization of Central Asia in an attempt to personally profit off military sales as well as oil and gas concessions.

The silence by the US government on these matters is deafening. So, too, is the blowback.

Puts an entirely different spin on Bush ignoring that PDB.

What did George W. Bush know, and when did he know it?

Richie Daley Wants You to Guarantee the Olympics

Posted on by TL

Got money?  Are you ready to help bail out the Olympics if they fail in Chicago?

Richie Daley thinks you are, and he’s gone rogue making promises on behalf of the people of Chicago and the state of Illinois.

Perhaps the mocking tone isn’t quite appropriate.  This is Mayor Daley, after all.  For all his apparent whining at times, the man is a savvy pol, a one man governmental body, never to be dismissed or underestimated.

But I’m confused, and apparently he is also.  Just what is he promising on behalf of Chicago?  Good luck trying to interpret the Daley doublespeak.

From the Chicago Tribune, June 18:

Faced with losing the 2016 Summer Games to competing cities offering full government guarantees, Mayor Richard Daley made an about-face Wednesday and said the City of Chicago would sign a contract agreeing to take full financial responsibility for the Games.

In a worst-case situation, such as severe cost-overruns or a catastrophic event, the agreement could leave taxpayers on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars or even more, a scenario Chicago’s bid team acknowledges but insists is far-fetched.

Bid officials said they can offer the guarantee because they plan to add another insurance policy worth a minimum of $500 million to existing guarantees, which they think creates an ample buffer for taxpayers.

The move surprised Chicago aldermen, who wondered why Daley had made a sweeping financial promise without bringing it to the City Council.

Chicago had tried to avoid the full commitment by offering to sign a modified version of the host-city contract with the International Olympic Committee. But Chicago’s package of limited guarantees has been an Achilles’ heel for the bid, since the other finalists — Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo — are offering full government guarantees.

On Wednesday, Daley disclosed his change of heart, a move that jeopardizes his long-standing pledge to limit potential taxpayer exposure.

So Mayor Daley is apparently ready to throw in everything and the kitchen sink to see the Olympics come to Chicago.  However, Daley muddied the waters earlier today with a news conference that promised, well, we’re not sure what he promised.

From the Trib’s Clout Street:

Mayor Richard Daley today attempted to dampen the political firestorm he sparked while overseas last week when he told Olympics officials that Chicago would financially guarantee the 2016 Summer Games.

His remarks this afternoon, however, only further confused the issue.

The mayor, back in Chicago and addressing the issue locally for the first time today, seemed to contradict his own statements in Switzerland, as well as the public remarks of Chicago 2016 chief Pat Ryan and International Olympics Committee President Jacques Rogge.

“We agreed to sign a host city agreement with the provisions of the city, state and the insurance policy as added on to the host city agreement. That’s what it’s going to be and that is our protection for the taxpayers of the city of Chicago,” Daley said today with Lori Healey, Chicago 2016 president and the mayor’s former chief of staff, at his side.

But that version is markedly different from Daley’s remarks immediately after emerging from his June 17 meeting with the IOC, when he told the Tribune he had just agreed to sign the host city contract “as is.”

In a subsequent interview last week, the IOC’s Rogge confirmed that Daley had agreed to sign the standard contract without modifications.

How much are Chicago and the rest of the state at risk if all of this goes south?

From Clout Street again:

For months, the mayor and Olympic bid leaders had pledged not to sign the blanket financial guarantee that could put taxpayers on the hook if there are cost overruns beyond the $750 million level the city and state already have agreed to cover.

So, which is it?  $750 million is aweful close to $1 billion.  How much can we afford?

Make no mistake: I would love to see the Olympics come to Chicago.  Every town, village and city in Cook County would benefit, financially and otherwise.  As an added plus, the experience would be completely awesome.

Frankly, I’m suspicious of Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo.  None of these cities can afford to make outlandish financial guarantees, and the IOC must know this.  Neither can Chicago.

Here’s the problem: Illinois does nothing efficiently, and Chicago is even worse.  We know that Patronage City will dish out completely unnecessary contracts all over the state.  If all goes well and the Olympics in 2016 are a huge success, somehow, someway, Chicago and the state of Illinois will manage to lose an incredible amount of money.

It’s inevitable.  This is Illinois.

There must be a way of landing the Olympics without promising a credit card the size of Mayor Daley’s ego.