KidWicked 0 #1 June 7, 2011 The war in Afghanistan apparently costs $5.6 billion a month. Is there anyone here who thinks that we should stay there and keep spending this money? It seems insane. Source: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/05/31/karzai-criticizes-doubts-grow-cost-afghanistan-war-2043907824/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+foxnews%2Fpolitics+%28Internal+-+Politics+-+Text%29Coreece: "You sound like some skinheads I know, but your prejudice is with Christians, not niggers..." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rehmwa 2 #2 June 7, 2011 QuoteIs there anyone here who thinks that we should stay there and keep spending this money? I doubt it ... Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rushmc 18 #3 June 7, 2011 It's Bush's fault"America will never be destroyed from the outside, if we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." Abraham Lincoln Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jclalor 12 #4 June 7, 2011 QuoteQuoteThe war in Afghanistan apparently costs $5.6 billion a month. Is there anyone here who thinks that we should stay there and keep spending this money? It seems insane. Source: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/05/31/karzai-criticizes-doubts-grow-cost-afghanistan-war-2043907824/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+foxnews%2Fpolitics+%28Internal+-+Politics+-+Text%29 The cost of this war is a bargain at 1.2 million dollars per deployed US troop. What else could we possibly find to spend that kind of money on? http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/02/22/am-the-cost-of-a-soldier-deployed-in-afghanistan/ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DanG 1 #5 June 7, 2011 I think we should stay there. As far as the cost, I think we could do it a lot cheaper. - Dan G Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JohnRich 4 #6 June 7, 2011 How much is freedom worth? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Glitch 0 #7 June 7, 2011 QuoteHow much is freedom worth? How much is whose freedom worth, to who is paying for it?Randomly f'n thingies up since before I was born... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jclalor 12 #8 June 7, 2011 QuoteQuoteHow much is freedom worth? Please tell us. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jclalor 12 #9 June 7, 2011 QuoteQuoteIt's Bush's fault Ding ding ding ding!!!! we have a winner. Who was Bush more concerned with after 911? In the grand scheme of things, it don't matter anyways. Iraq and Afghanistan will turn into even worst shitholes that they are now after we leave, and we will leave, be it sooner or later. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DanG 1 #10 June 7, 2011 Freedom costs a buck o' nine. Duh. - Dan G Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 2,396 #11 June 7, 2011 >How much is freedom worth? Well, I guess that depends on whether you are a Christian gun-toting white male or a gay Latino woman who wants to get married. Heck, she should probably be in jail anyway. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
winsor 186 #12 June 7, 2011 QuoteHow much is freedom worth? Freedom from what, or from whom? If the place is that big of a threat, why don't we just use up some of these thermonuclear gadgets we have all bought and paid for, and turn the place into a big parking lot? Don't like fighting in mountains? No problem, consider them flattened! The biggest objection I have to waging war is the cost involved. This cost includes turning nice kids into worm food or cripples, as well as squandering resources we simply cannot afford. To accuse the government of pissing away money like a drunken sailor is a gross insult to drunken sailors - drunken sailors quit spending when they run out of money. We are a nation on which the concept of finesse is lost. I do not object to achieving results, but using brute force and ignorance to do so is not exactly the optimal approach. BSBD, Winsor Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
winsor 186 #13 June 7, 2011 QuoteQuoteQuoteIt's Bush's fault Ding ding ding ding!!!! we have a winner. Who was Bush more concerned with after 911? In the grand scheme of things, it don't matter anyways. Iraq and Afghanistan will turn into even worst shitholes that they are now after we leave, and we will leave, be it sooner or later. Bomb them back to the Stone Age, I say! A pack of ladyfingers and half a dozen bottle rockets should do it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andy9o8 0 #14 June 7, 2011 QuoteI think we should stay there. Why? (Which I ask with respect and thanks for your and everyone else's personal sacrifice.) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kelpdiver 2 #15 June 7, 2011 QuoteHow much is freedom worth? I value Afghan freedom less and less every day, and it wasn't that high to start with. The US can no longer afford to fix other people's problems without payment up front. With Bin Laden dead, what's left for us there? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
solodude59 0 #16 June 7, 2011 I'm in Afghanistan as I type this, and I can see the money flying out the window.. Not only that, war can also be extremely profitable. One example... At our camp, we have two different "internet providers", I use that term very loosely. Its around $100 per month for a satellite connection that is slower than dialup, and only works when the weather is prestine AND when everyone is not trying to Skype with their families. This is rare. I could talk all day about waste of funds over here, but technically what I do is classified. Lets just say the government gives better medical care to the captured enemy than to the troops here. My opinion is heavily biased from being in the midst of this conundrum, so consider this my $0.02...In freefall, you have the rest of your life to figure out what's wrong. -Joe, AFF Instructor Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rehmwa 2 #17 June 7, 2011 QuoteQuoteHow much is freedom worth? How much is whose freedom worth, to who is paying for it? Good question. I'd have just responded with a random quote of my own. For that matter, if JR wants to beggar this country and its citizens to give a false 'freedom' to a country that won't fight for it themselves, then he isn't that free - he's just slaved to those others. ... Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DanG 1 #18 June 7, 2011 Quotecripples Hot tip: the physically challenged, especially wounded soldiers, aren't too fond of that term. - Dan G Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DanG 1 #19 June 7, 2011 I think that if we don't get Afghanistan to the point where it can reasonably self-govern, it will become a terrorist training ground like none we've ever seen. There are still lots of ardent anti-Western Islamics all over the world. Currently, they have limited freedom to operate. If we give up on Afghanistan now, they'll move in and get to work. Once we leave it will twice as hard, and even more expensive, to go back. Either we fix it now, or we start saving up to reinvade in ten to twenty years. - Dan G Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JohnRich 4 #20 June 7, 2011 QuoteThe biggest objection I have to waging war is the cost involved. This cost includes turning nice kids into worm food or cripples, as well as squandering resources we simply cannot afford. At what dollar limit do you say; "Screw it, freedom is too expensive, I would prefer to just live under tyranny." State your price. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
winsor 186 #21 June 7, 2011 QuoteQuotecripples Hot tip: the physically challenged, especially wounded soldiers, aren't too fond of that term. Xin loi. Crippled is crippled. Deal with it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DanG 1 #22 June 7, 2011 QuoteCrippled is crippled. Deal with it. I'm not crippled. Crippled implies uselessness, disposable, trashed, finished. I'm far from crippled. I don't expect you to understand, and given your general disdain for anyone who's not you, I certainly don't expect you to care, but the word crippled pisses me off. It also pisses a lot of other people off. If you want to keep using it, be my guest, but I wouldn't walk up to a wounded warrior and ask him how it feels to be a cripple. You might get to experience the feeling yourself. - Dan G Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
winsor 186 #23 June 7, 2011 QuoteQuoteThe biggest objection I have to waging war is the cost involved. This cost includes turning nice kids into worm food or cripples, as well as squandering resources we simply cannot afford. At what dollar limit do you say; "Screw it, freedom is too expensive, I would prefer to just live under tyranny." State your price. The idea that the results obtained are somehow proportional to the money (or lives) thrown at a problem is the rub. If you HAVE to engage in combat, let there be no quarter. If you can finesse you way to the goal (please define quite what you mean by "freedom") without firing a shot, so much the better. The pentultimate ideal is to achieve your overall purpose peacefully (at least for us) and turn a buck in the process. If we could engage in combat at a profit, I would be less opposed to resorting to warfare as a matter of course. The reality, however, is that the greatest victories tend to leave the victor bankrupt. With our government adopting a Third Reich playbook (Godwin be damned, "Homeland Security" is indistinguishable from the work of Herr Doktor Josef Goebbels), I lose track of quite how pissing away $ trillions trying to kill or tame ragheads serves to ensure my "freedom." Don't get me wrong - if every last islamist were to simultaneously drop dead of natural causes, I would be greatly relieved. Unfortunately, the same is true of TSA. There are only two requirements for terrorism to succeed: terrorists and pussies (and the terrorists need not actually exist). Thus, to defeat terrorism, the approach must be twofold as well: kill terrorists and don't be a pussy. BSBD, Winsor Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
champu 1 #24 June 7, 2011 QuoteQuoteCrippled is crippled. Deal with it. I'm not crippled. Crippled implies uselessness, disposable, trashed, finished. I'm far from crippled. I don't expect you to understand, and given your general disdain for anyone who's not you, I certainly don't expect you to care, but the word crippled pisses me off. It also pisses a lot of other people off. If you want to keep using it, be my guest, but I wouldn't walk up to a wounded warrior and ask him how it feels to be a cripple. You might get to experience the feeling yourself. Well, in fairness, I wouldn't walk up to anyone and ask them, "How does it feel to be " unless they just won something and it was congratulatory. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
winsor 186 #25 June 7, 2011 QuoteQuoteCrippled is crippled. Deal with it. I'm not crippled. Crippled implies uselessness, disposable, trashed, finished. I'm far from crippled. I don't expect you to understand, and given your general disdain for anyone who's not you, I certainly don't expect you to care, but the word crippled pisses me off. It also pisses a lot of other people off. If you want to keep using it, be my guest, but I wouldn't walk up to a wounded warrior and ask him how it feels to be a cripple. You might get to experience the feeling yourself. Crippled is crippled. What you read into it is your business. I am sick to death of people who try to come up with an endless of series of "kinder, gentler" words to describe whatever, only to have each successive term take on the exact connotations of the term it replaced. The guys with whom I was hospitalized, who had their spines blown out and massive, irreperable damage done by high explosives, were not "challenged" or "impaired" - they were crippled, and it sucked. It pisses me off when someone medevaced after a firefight is described by some newscaster as "injured." A sucking chest wound is not an injury - it is a wound and there is a difference. If you want to take offense, so be it. I find mincing words to be every bit as offensive, and I endeavor not to do so. b.t.w., having beaten an iron lung and spent many months in a wheelchair and on crutches, I don't have to ask. BSBD, Winsor Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
