The death of Prince reminds me of the reaction to Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley. All made a huge impression on different generations in the USA.
Rep. Walter Jones, Jr., shared recent news articles related to the reconstruction of Afghanistan.
An NBC article “12 Ways Your Tax Dollars Were Squandered in Afghanistan” is a stinging indictment of the effort. According to SIGER’s Special Inspector General John F. Sopko, $113.1 billion has been “plowed” in to the project.
Sopko, paraphrasing Albert Einstein, said the US’s profligate spending in Afghanistan is “the definition of insanity–doing the same things over and over again, and expecting a different result.”
The Pentagon spent close to half a billion dollars on 20 Italian-made cargo planes that it eventually scrapped and sold for just $32,000.
“These planes were the wrong planes for Afghanistan,” according to Sopko. “The US had difficulty getting the Afghans to fly them, and our pilots called them deathtraps. One pilot said parts starting falling off while he was coming into land.”
The report by NBC news reported sixteen of the planes were scrapped and sold to a local construction company for 6 cents a pound, and according to SIGAR (Special Inspector for Afghanistan Reconstruction), the other four remained unused at a US base in Germany.
Sopko called the planes “one of the biggest single programs in Afghanistan that was a total failure.”
This is not a Democratic or Republican miscue, this is an American “screw-up”. Both parties, Administration presents a budget, Congress approves and I guess the defense department determines how it is to be spent. How sad. Aren’t you happy to send more money to the IRS for both parties to squander in Afghanistan and other locations? It’s just money……our money.
Today, we highlight the 1977 Dublin Red Team: Michelle King, Kevin Butler, David McDaniel, Angela Taylor, Albert Lewis, Randy Bordeaux, Julia Ann Carroll, Stephen Lesane, Gwenda McKoy, and Clint Hester. Coaches were Johnny Bordeaux, Carolyn Smith and Brenda King.
It is time we had a defense budget that lives within its means, accounts for what is truly required ……..and provides the best possible support for all our troops. Pete Stark
If we can’t find cuts in the defense budget, we’re not looking carefully enough. Jon Huntsman, Jr.
The reality is, the United States has global interest. Our defense budget is about the same as the defense or military budgets of every other country in the world put together. Robert M. Gates.
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