The United States is spending about $8,000 per man, woman and child in the country to pursue wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to new estimates that show the wars will cost about $2.4 trillion over the next decade.
More than one-fourth of the money spent in Iraq and Afghanistan -- $705 billion -- will go to paying interest on the wars' costs, which are being funded with borrowed dollars, according to an estimate to be released Wednesday by the Congressional Budget Office. Iraq accounts for about 80 percent of the costs with a $1.9 trillion tab, including $564 million in interest, a House budget committee staff director told USA Today, which reported the numbers Wednesday morning....
....The latest estimate is more than 40 times higher than the Bush administration's initial estimates that the war would cost between $50 billion and $60 billion....
Now the President has asked for even more money.
> > Honda Motors must be doing something right. Wall Street Journal:
Honda Motor Co. Thursday said its group net profit shot up 63% in the July-September quarter as a weaker yen and solid sales of small, fuel-efficient vehicles boosted its bottom line.
Japan's second-biggest car maker by sales volume posted a group net profit of ¥208.48 billion ($1.83 billion) for its fiscal second quarter, up from ¥127.91 billion in the same period last year....
Don't you think that the executives of American car companies should find out how Honda made these astounding profits?
**** Giuliani's lead in the California polls has decreased. The Press Enterprise:
The race for the Republican presidential nomination has started to close in California, a new poll shows, with front-runner Rudy Giuliani's summer lead cut in half.
The survey released today by the nonpartisan Field Institute found that likely GOP primary voters' preferences for the former New York mayor have dropped from 35 percent two months ago to 25 percent. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, U.S. Sen. John McCain and former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson are neck and neck for second place. Romney received 13 percent of the vote, with McCain and Thompson both at 12 percent..... Are people abandoning Giuliani? > Asia Times: Iraq war veterans now stationed at a base here in upstate New York say that morale among US soldiers in the country is so poor, many are simply parking their Humvees and pretending to be on patrol, a practice dubbed "search and avoid" missions.... .....he participated in roughly 300 patrols. "We were hit by so many roadside bombs we became incredibly demoralized, so we decided the only way we wouldn't be blown up was to avoid driving around all the time." .....According to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the number of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans seeking treatment for PTSD increased nearly 70% in the 12 months ending on June 30..... The battle-weary soldiers and Marines are physically and mentally exhausted. However, this administration wants to keep them fighting in this war forever.
