teabag09 wrote:
BR, this is a question not a rebuke. It is a small world and all of the major players have a big gun pointed at each other. Being that we all can pretty much keep an eye on each other and do, what is our loss of getting out of the ME? Israel is extremely tuned in to what is going on there. What do we gain by having troops and assets in Yemen, Syria, Iraq etc. Israel sits back and lets them fight amongst themselves which has been to Israel's advantage for years. Why would it not be to our advantage to do the same. What is Russia, China, Nk advantage by our not being there? There are few assets for them but they'll be draining their coffers. Let us stay alert, stay ready and keep assets (Navy) in the area ready to strike on a moments notice if necessary but pull our ground troops and shut our bases. We don't have a conflict we are trying to win so why have troops on the ground who are nothing more than cannon fodder. Blade, don't get me wrong, most of the time I'm pretty hawkish but not in this case. It's been too long with no results and there will be no result that we want. It's a total drain on our Country.
Now if the president decides to take Syria out and end that hell hole once and for all, I'm in. Win or get the hell out. Mike
BR, this is a question not a rebuke. It is a small... (
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The US government promotes an extreme over reliance on military might and a disturbing parallel of policing, incarceration, and surveillance. A recent National Priorities Project analysis (
http://www.nationalpriorities.org/analysis/2017/militarized-budget-2017/ ) of the US discretionary budget showed that 64 percent of the federal discretionary budget -- the budget decided by Congress each year, which is covered almost entirely by income taxes -- is devoted to the military and militarism: to making and preparing for war, dealing with the consequences of war, and to programs that amount to intimidation and oppression here at home. Since Viet Nam, every country where the US has intervened militarily-- Afghanistan, Iraq, Eqypt, Libya, now will it be Syria? a vacuum has been left and filled with elements more even more evil and anti-American.
At least 23 percent of income taxes (
http://www.nationalpriorities.org/interactive-data/taxday/average/2016/us/receipt/ ) go to the military -- and if you count spending on veterans' benefits, national debt due to past wars, or other militarized spending like that for the FBI, federal private, for profit prisons or immigration enforcement (which I am for), the estimates only go higher. In addition to paying an average of $3,290 in yearly income taxes for the traditional military, Americans each pay $88 for border control and immigration and customs enforcement, $33 for the federal prison system, and more for programs ranging from the FBI to the CIA and beyond. Is the US taxpayer getting its money's worth? I do not think so. Not to mention the TRILLIONS in taxpayer dollars that have been wasted and frauded over the past few years that cannot even be accounted for...again, is the US taxpayer getting its money's worth?
Only 22 percent of military taxes go to US troops for pay and benefits. Meanwhile, nearly half of the military budget goes to a powerful group of multinational corporations that make billions in profits from US warmongering. Lockheed Martin got $36 BILLION in taxpayer dollars in 2015, General Dynamics, Raytheon, BAE Systems, Boeing, on and on...
http://247wallst.com/special-report/2014/03/05/companies-profiting-the-most-from-war/2/War is a racket! It is time to stop the insanity of continual, illegal, unConstitutional, immoral warmongering and the corporate welfare that goes with that warmongering!
Yet, it is always social programs that are always blamed for increasing the federal deficit and targeted for cuts.