In a Congressional Research Service report published on 09/28/2009, If the current administration’s FY2010 war request is approved and enacted, Total war-related funding would reach $1.08 trillion since 2001, including $ 748 billion for Iraq, $ 300 billion for Afghanistan, $ 29 billion for enhanced security and $ 5 billion that cannot be allocated. This is less than the cost of health care reform bill of $ 1 trillion for 10 Years.
The trigger of this astronomical spending is the September 11th attacks. Waging war on Al- Qaeda in Afghanistan was by all means necessary and legal. Waging war beyond Afghanistan was not. Almost 10 years on, we owe it to ourselves to stop and think, have we accomplished our goals?
According to the former administration, the goals were — to defeat Al-Qaeda and spread Democracy. 10 Years on the opposite have been realized; Al-Qaeda has spread from Afghanistan to Pakistan, to Iraq, to Somalia, to Yemen, to North Africa, and lastly to Turkey. And Democracy movements that have inadvertently started by the Iraq war and the call for freer elections have now been defeated.
The current administration has cloned the Bush administration strategy when it comes to fighting “the war on terror”. Ever since I was a child my mother told me, if you want different results, you have to try different things. Why aren’t we trying different strategies and different policies to defeat Al-Qaeda?
Maybe the State of the Union Address will have some answers for me.
