Report: Military Blew $1 Trillion on Weapons Since 9/11

[Hissyspit]

Source: Mother Jones

Report: Military Blew $1 Trillion on Weapons Since 9/11

A new study suggests that defense hawks are crying crocodile tears over planned cuts to Pentagon spending.

—By Adam Weinstein

Wed Nov. 2, 2011 3:00 AM PDT
Capitol Hill conservatives and Pentagon brass fighting cuts to defense spending have argued that the military is limping off the battlefield with decrepit hardware. It's quite the sob story: At a hearing last week, Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.), the chair of the House armed services committee, cut his remarks short to literally sob for "these young men that are going outside the wire over in Afghanistan, every day on patrol."

But a new report shows the US defense establishment is in much better shape than it claims: The DOD has blown roughly $1 trillion on shiny new tanks, ships, and jets since the 9/11 attacks—and it's often done so with dollars that were supposed to be spent on those troops on the battlefield in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Stimson Center study, "What We Bought: Defense Procurement From FY01 to FY10" , says the military is hardly in dire straits when it comes to funding its big-ticket items. "The services capitalized on funding to modernize their forces, especially the major weapons programs that constitute the heart of the services’ capabilities," writes the report's author, Russell Rumbaugh—a retired Army officer and ex-CIA military analyst.

The study shows there's one big reason the brass are concerned about budget-cutting discussions in Congress: They've been double dipping into the taxpayer's pocket to finance weapons purchases. Of the roughly $1 trillion spent on gadgetry since 9/11, 22 percent of it came from "supplemental" war funding—annual outlays that are voted on separately from the regular defense budget. Those bills are primarily intended to keep day-to-day operations running in Iraq and Afghanistan—meaning that if a member of Congress votes against a supplemental spending bill, she exposes herself to charges that she doesn't "support the troops" in harm's way.

Read more: http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/11/military-trillion-dollar-weapons-spending?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+motherjones%2Fmain+%28MotherJones.com+Main+Article+Feed%29

[deutsey]

1. Yeah, and who got stuck with the tab? n/t

[Octafish]

31. The chumps.

One might hope chump, one day, will change.

[Scuba]

2. But I thought we were broke? How can Social Security be broke if the Army isn't?

[quaker bill]

5. We are never broke

when it comes to weapons. Republicans will print money by the truckload for weapons.

[think]

15. The Dems seem just as excited about dumping our tax dollars down the military black hole

Outside of Dennis Kucinich I don't see any Democrats actively lobbying against the money wasted in the military industrial cesspool.

$700 billion dollars being spent on our bloated military budget this year alone. This is shameful and shows that America is unrealistic in it's financial responsibilities. Republicans rant about socialism but turn a blind eye to this socialist spending that is bleeding our country dry.

Please wake up America!

[quaker bill]

32. BRAC was a dem Clinton era program

BRAC - Base Realignment and Closure. Dems do cut defense, just not enough. The base in my neighborhood, from which draftees during VietNam went AWOL running through my neighborhood and school trying to escape with the SPs in hot pursuit, is now a subdivision. I am not all that taken with the subdivision, but I like it better than the base.

[No Elephants]

25. That's why God made printing presses. Well, maybe that and the Bible.

[Sherman A1]

3. K&R

:kick:

[quaker bill]

4. It has been politically impossible

to spend too much money on "defense". In politics you generally can't be "too hard on crime" and can't "spend too much money on defense".

It seems like we might be getting to the place where one could "cut taxes too much". This alone, if it happens, would be a huge change.

[leveymg]

6. Must be time for another war, and an other round of weapon system acquisitions.

Unfortunately, that's how it works.

[valerief]

7. Ah, the military budget. The .01%ers' pin money. nt

[Blue_Tires]

8. Where's Cantor and the other teabag deficit hawks on this??

[luckyleftyme2]

9. cantor

the weasel who will be voted out next time he runs

[atreides1]

13. Let's hope your right.

I don't live in his District...but I sure hope that the people that do have realized that he will throw them under the bus, to please his real boss...Grover Norquist!

[No Elephants]

27. They are not deficit hawks. They are enemies of social security.

There's a huge difference.

And you feel it in your wallet.

[marmar]

10. "Military spending left few resources for other vital activities, such as providing public housing..

.... and maintaining quality roads and aqueducts. Frustrated Romans lost their desire to defend the Empire. The empire had to begin hiring soldiers recruited from the unemployed city mobs or worse from foreign counties. Such an army was not only unreliable, but very expensive. The emperors were forced to raise taxes frequently which in turn led again to increased inflation."


http://www.rome.info/history/empire/fall/

[No Elephants]

28. Yes, but we don't even get bread and circus (unless you count D.C. clowns).

[DirkGently]

11. The double-dipping angle deserves more coverage. Defense is the gold-plated elephant in the room.

[AntiFascist]

17. K&R, exactly! n/t

[Hotler]

12. k&r Need to print this out and pass it to all your neighbors.

"The study shows there's one big reason the brass are concerned about budget-cutting discussions in Congress: They've been double dipping into the taxpayer's pocket to finance weapons purchases."

[avaistheone1]

14. This kind of outrageous spending is literally bankrupting our country.

All this insane spending has done is make the world a more dangerous place.


:grr:

[Turbineguy]

16. Wall street

takes that in a year.

[No Elephants]

26. And therefore?

[Fire Walk With Me]

18. Resources which should instead be used for the PEOPLE.

#Occupy the military industrial complex!

[christx30]

19. Good thing we did that

instead of paying for health care or anti hunger programs. That would have been terrible.

[classysassy]

20. Graft,bribes the staple of our congresscritters

All the member of congress that take money from military contractors are no more than gangsters with cover.Those greedy clowns would sell their mothers for a few thousands,if proven they should be impeached by their fellow crooks,but that will never happen and we the voters are si ill informed we keep sending the same crooks back to Washington.The ones that get caught with their hands in the cookie jar seldom go to jail,they just move over to K street in order to lobby their former pals and crooks.Term limit is the only way to solve this dreadful problem.

[Gregorian]

21. And the worst part is most likely the monster carbon emissions that resulted.

But we'll see. It's going to be seen soon.

[DCKit]

22. We know most of this crap that's coming out, but it gets reported as breaking news regularly.

I live in DC, I read DU, and most of this seeps in through the cracks, but we're supposed to be excited when we get confirmation from a "reputable" news source? We've been talking about these same things (and often the same numbers) for two and three years at a time.

The news is that the Democratic process is broken. We're getting screwed. The news isn't getting out.

[plumbob]

23. I'm amazed that it's only ONE trillion. Of course, since they ADMIT

to that, it's probably more like TEN trillion.

Fuckers.

[No Elephants]

29. One trillion, ten trillion, potato, potahto. Why nickle and dime your government?

[No Elephants]

24. So much for troops' salaries making up most of the costs of war

because "'guns' don't cost that much."

I've seen at least one post to that effect on many threads suggesting we start budget cuts with the D of D instead of with the poor, disabled and elderly.

[red dog 1]

30. A Trillion Here, a Trillion There, It begins To Add Up!...$2.3 Trillion Still Missing From DOD

"CBS Reports Pentagon Cannot Account For $2.3 Trillion"

http://www.911myths.com/html/rumsfeld_9_11_and_2_3_trill.html

[bobthedrummer]

33. There IT is, red dog 1! Kick.

RECALL SCOTT WALKER!