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War, War, War
See other War, War, War Articles

Title: Analysts Expect Long-Term, Costly U.S. Campaign in Afghanistan
Source: [None]
URL Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy ... /08/08/AR2009080802283_pf.html
Published: Aug 9, 2009
Author: Walter Pincus
Post Date: 2009-08-09 10:14:59 by christine
Keywords: None
Views: 1067
Comments: 85

As the Obama administration expands U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, military experts are warning that the United States is taking on security and political commitments that will last at least a decade and a cost that will probably eclipse that of the Iraq war.

Since the invasion of Afghanistan eight years ago, the United States has spent $223 billion on war-related funding for that country, according to the Congressional Research Service. Aid expenditures, excluding the cost of combat operations, have grown exponentially, from $982 million in 2003 to $9.3 billion last year.

The costs are almost certain to keep growing. The Obama administration is in the process of overhauling the U.S. approach to Afghanistan, putting its focus on long-term security, economic sustainability and development. That approach is also likely to require deployment of more American military personnel, at the very least to train additional Afghan security forces.

Later this month, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, is expected to present his analysis of the situation in the country. The analysis could prompt an increase in U.S. troop levels to help implement President Obama's new strategy.

Military experts insist that the additional resources are necessary. But many, including some advising McChrystal, say they fear the public has not been made aware of the significant commitments that come with Washington's new policies.

"We will need a large combat presence for many years to come, and we will probably need a large financial commitment longer than that," said Stephen Biddle, a senior fellow for defense policy at the Council on Foreign Relations and a member of the "strategic assessment" team advising McChrystal. The expansion of the Afghan security force that the general will recommend to secure the country "will inevitably cost much more than any imaginable Afghan government is going to be able to afford on its own," Biddle added.

"Afghan forces will need $4 billion a year for another decade, with a like sum for development," said Bing West, a former assistant secretary of defense and combat Marine who has chronicled the Iraq and Afghan wars. Bing said the danger is that Congress is "so generous in support of our own forces today, it may not support the aid needed for progress in Afghanistan tomorrow."

Some members of Congress are worried. The House Appropriations Committee said in its report on the fiscal 2010 defense appropriations bill that its members are "concerned about the prospects for an open-ended U.S. commitment to bring stability to a country that has a decades-long history of successfully rebuffing foreign military intervention and attempts to influence internal politics."

The Afghan government has made some political and military progress since 2001, but the Taliban insurgency has been reinvigorated.

Anthony H. Cordesman, another member of McChrystal's advisory group and a national security expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told reporters recently that even with military gains in the next 12 to 18 months, it would take years to reduce sharply the threat from the Taliban and other insurgent forces.

The task that the United States has taken on in Afghanistan is in many ways more difficult than the one it has encountered in Iraq, where the U.S. government has spent $684 billion in war-related funding.

In a 2008 study that ranked the weakest states in the developing world, the Brookings Institution rated Afghanistan second only to Somalia. Afghanistan's gross domestic product in 2008 was $23 billion, with about $3 billion coming from opium production, according to the CIA's World Factbook. Oil-producing Iraq had a GDP of $113 billion.

Afghanistan's central government takes in roughly $890 million in annual revenue, according to the World Factbook. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has pointed out that Afghanistan's national budget cannot support the $2 billion needed today for the country's army and police force.

Dutch Army Brig. Gen. Tom Middendorp, commander of the coalition task force in Afghanistan's southern Uruzgan province, described the region as virtually prehistoric.

"It's the poorest province of one of the poorest countries in the world. And if you walk through that province, it's like walking through the Old Testament," Middendorp told reporters recently. "There is enormous illiteracy in the province. More than 90 percent cannot write or read. So it's very basic, what you do there. And they have had 30 years of conflict."

Unlike in Iraq, where Obama has established a timeline for U.S. involvement, the president has not said when he would like to see troops withdrawn from Afghanistan.

White House officials emphasize that the burden is not that of the United States alone. The NATO-led force in the country has 61,000 troops from 42 countries; about 29,000 of those troops are American.

Still, military experts say the United States will not be able to shed its commitment easily.

The government has issued billions of dollars in contracts in recent years, underscoring the vast extent of work that U.S. officials are commissioning.

Among other purposes, contractors have been sought this summer to build a $25 million provincial Afghan National Police headquarters; maintain anti-personnel mine systems; design and build multimillion-dollar sections of roads; deliver by sea and air billions of dollars worth of military bulk cargo; and supervise a drug-eradication program.

One solicitation, issued by the Army Corps of Engineers, is aimed at finding a contractor to bring together Afghan economic, social, legal and political groups to help build the country's infrastructure. The contractor would work with Afghan government officials as well as representatives from private and nongovernmental organizations to establish a way to allocate resources for new projects.

"We are looking at two decades of supplying a few billion a year to Afghanistan," said Michael E. O'Hanlon, a senior fellow and military expert at the Brookings Institution, adding: "It's a reasonable guess that for 20 years, we essentially will have to fund half the Afghan budget." He described the price as reasonable, given that it may cost the United States $100 billion this year to continue fighting.

"We are creating a [long-term military aid] situation similar to the ones we have with Israel, Egypt and Jordan," he said.

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#35. To: christine (#34)

Yeah. It is indisputable. Puleze don't start the "truther faerie tale" again. This has been a fine thread so far.

buckeroo  posted on  2009-08-09   18:46:19 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#36. To: christine (#34)

And did we know that 6 months before when we approached the government of India about attacking Iraq?

And did we know it at the end of July 2001 when John Ashcroft's office announced he would no longer fly on commercial airliners specifying unidentified "threats"?

"I think the subject which will be of most importance politically is Mass Psychology...It's importance has been enormously increased by the growth of modern methods of propaganda...Although this science will be diligently studied, it will be rigidly confined to the governing class. The populace will not be allowed to know how its convictions were generated." Bertrand Russel, Eugenicist and Logician

Original_Intent  posted on  2009-08-09   18:47:11 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#37. To: buckeroo, christine, all (#35)

Oh, so Al-CIAda was able to wire the towers with nano-themates, commandeer multiple airliners (and with known incompetents at the stick fly them like Richtoften's Flying Circus), wave his majick Cell Phone three times and make WTC 7 fall down, while ordering the FBI to confiscate every one of the 32 surveillance videos surrounding the approach to the Pentagram the afternoon of 911 (none of which have ever been released 9 years after the fact), then through his agents in DC was able to convince Geeeeee Duhbya to have the structural members of the towers put under armed guard, prevent forensic examination of the structural elements, have them shipped out of the country to be melted (staying under armed guard even at the dump until they were out of the country), order Geeeeeeeee Duhbya to have all of Osama Ben Goldstein's family flown out of the country the next day, shred the ATC records, put a gag order (still in effect) on the Air Traffic Controllers who watched it unfold, and on and on with the anomalies .... That Al CIAda?

Oh, and how did Osama Ben Golstein create the molten metal pulled up six weeks after the towers collapsed - rub his majick lamp?

"I think the subject which will be of most importance politically is Mass Psychology...It's importance has been enormously increased by the growth of modern methods of propaganda...Although this science will be diligently studied, it will be rigidly confined to the governing class. The populace will not be allowed to know how its convictions were generated." Bertrand Russel, Eugenicist and Logician

Original_Intent  posted on  2009-08-09   18:59:38 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#38. To: buckeroo (#35)

Yeah. It is indisputable. Puleze don't start the "truther faerie tale" again. This has been a fine thread so far.

I'm a recent convert. I have a video you should see.


"If, from the more wretched parts of the old world, we look at those which are in an advanced stage of improvement, we still find the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry, and grasping the spoil of the multitude. Invention is continually exercised, to furnish new pretenses for revenues and taxation. It watches prosperity as its prey and permits none to escape without tribute." --Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1791

farmfriend  posted on  2009-08-09   19:02:21 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#39. To: Jethro Tull (#32)

As a racist nation, the chickens were coming home to roost. Certainly you agree.

Here is what I know and have always maintained: a pile of ignorant Muslims under the direction of Osama bin Laden bombed America. The common denominator for their attacks was the US government both about aggression in the ME and lackadaisical security here in America.

Trillions of dollars have been handily shelled out by tax payers to the FBI/CIA about learning this crap for years. And they failed. But of course, government always fails. But they are always the first to say they succeed.

buckeroo  posted on  2009-08-09   19:05:06 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#40. To: buckeroo (#39)

Here is what I know and have always maintained: a pile of ignorant Muslims under the direction of Osama bin Laden bombed America.

And you would be wrong.


"If, from the more wretched parts of the old world, we look at those which are in an advanced stage of improvement, we still find the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry, and grasping the spoil of the multitude. Invention is continually exercised, to furnish new pretenses for revenues and taxation. It watches prosperity as its prey and permits none to escape without tribute." --Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1791

farmfriend  posted on  2009-08-09   19:13:48 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#41. To: Original_Intent (#37)

Massive publick pandemonium is not a direct function of government involvement. It is about the initial trigger mechanisms creating the excitement and tragedy and in the case of 9/11 the devastating effects that linger on. You can't find one thread of evidence concerning government conspiratorial involvement about 9/11; just futile attempts to bring cohesive forces after wards.

buckeroo  posted on  2009-08-09   19:14:58 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#42. To: buckeroo, Original_Intent (#41)

You can't find one thread of evidence concerning government conspiratorial involvement about 9/11; just futile attempts to bring cohesive forces after wards.

Yes actually you can. You really need to see this video. I was on the fence about this stuff until recently. Send me a mailing address and I'll send you a video.


"If, from the more wretched parts of the old world, we look at those which are in an advanced stage of improvement, we still find the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry, and grasping the spoil of the multitude. Invention is continually exercised, to furnish new pretenses for revenues and taxation. It watches prosperity as its prey and permits none to escape without tribute." --Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1791

farmfriend  posted on  2009-08-09   19:17:53 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#43. To: farmfriend (#40)

Somehow, earlier on I knew that this thread would become majick truther faerie tale stuff for the weak of mind, brainless or infant minded. So go ahead and convince me. It better be good too.

buckeroo  posted on  2009-08-09   19:19:01 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#44. To: farmfriend (#42)

You already have my email addy.

buckeroo  posted on  2009-08-09   19:19:51 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#45. To: buckeroo (#44)

You already have my email addy.

Hard to mail a CD that way. Up to you.


"If, from the more wretched parts of the old world, we look at those which are in an advanced stage of improvement, we still find the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry, and grasping the spoil of the multitude. Invention is continually exercised, to furnish new pretenses for revenues and taxation. It watches prosperity as its prey and permits none to escape without tribute." --Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1791

farmfriend  posted on  2009-08-09   19:21:51 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#46. To: farmfriend (#45)

What is the content or title? What is the Internet link?

buckeroo  posted on  2009-08-09   19:24:52 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#47. To: buckeroo (#43)

Somehow, earlier on I knew that this thread would become majick truther faerie tale stuff for the weak of mind, brainless or infant minded. So go ahead and convince me. It better be good too.

As I said I was very much on the fence. I believed the government line and didn't follow the truther threads. What little I did see was intriguing hence being on the fence. This video lays it all out very nicely. The CNN footage of the planes crashing into the buildings was interesting and of course the BBC announcing that building seven had fallen when it is clearly in the picture behind the reporter is also rather interesting.

I've got lots of good videos that show the government for what it is including cops posing as protesters trying to start a riot. Great stuff.


"If, from the more wretched parts of the old world, we look at those which are in an advanced stage of improvement, we still find the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry, and grasping the spoil of the multitude. Invention is continually exercised, to furnish new pretenses for revenues and taxation. It watches prosperity as its prey and permits none to escape without tribute." --Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1791

farmfriend  posted on  2009-08-09   19:25:51 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#48. To: buckeroo (#46)

What is the content or title? What is the Internet link?

I'll have to get back to you on that, my copy seems to be missing. I think my son has it somewhere.


"If, from the more wretched parts of the old world, we look at those which are in an advanced stage of improvement, we still find the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry, and grasping the spoil of the multitude. Invention is continually exercised, to furnish new pretenses for revenues and taxation. It watches prosperity as its prey and permits none to escape without tribute." --Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1791

farmfriend  posted on  2009-08-09   19:31:09 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#49. To: buckeroo (#46)

What is the content or title? What is the Internet link?

Found my copy. It's 9-11 Ripple Effect produced by William Lewis and Dave Vonkieist. I'm sure you can purchase it on line but I have no link.


"If, from the more wretched parts of the old world, we look at those which are in an advanced stage of improvement, we still find the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry, and grasping the spoil of the multitude. Invention is continually exercised, to furnish new pretenses for revenues and taxation. It watches prosperity as its prey and permits none to escape without tribute." --Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1791

farmfriend  posted on  2009-08-09   19:33:16 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#50. To: buckeroo (#35)

omg. i never knew you were a believer in the .gov tale.

christine  posted on  2009-08-09   19:36:54 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#51. To: farmfriend (#47)

I've got lots of good videos that show the government for what it is including cops posing as protesters trying to start a riot. Great stuff.

But that is always after the fact. For 9/11, the US government was just an inept organization, non-caring about the original attack. It started from the top down, too.

Here is footage of GWBush reading about Pet Goats with a class of kids while being informed of the Twin Towers fiasco; he didn't give a damn:

These people in charge of government don't care. They think the world owes then a living.

buckeroo  posted on  2009-08-09   19:38:57 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#52. To: buckeroo (#51)

Here is footage of GWBush reading about Pet Goats with a class of kids while being informed of the Twin Towers fiasco; he didn't give a damn:

Actually that is not what you are seeing. Bush clearly stated many times he saw the planes hit the towers.


"If, from the more wretched parts of the old world, we look at those which are in an advanced stage of improvement, we still find the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry, and grasping the spoil of the multitude. Invention is continually exercised, to furnish new pretenses for revenues and taxation. It watches prosperity as its prey and permits none to escape without tribute." --Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1791

farmfriend  posted on  2009-08-09   19:40:42 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#53. To: All (#51)

buckeroo  posted on  2009-08-09   19:42:36 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#54. To: farmfriend (#52)

But, the truth is: America had nothing to do with the trigger mechanisms. All you see is ineptitude and silly blunders in governance before and after the event.

buckeroo  posted on  2009-08-09   19:46:51 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#55. To: buckeroo (#54)

tell me, buck, how is that Bin Laden was able to make NORAD stand down that day?

christine  posted on  2009-08-09   19:49:19 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#56. To: buckeroo (#53)

I'm not wild about Alex Jones. The video I talked about is better and more comprehensive.


"If, from the more wretched parts of the old world, we look at those which are in an advanced stage of improvement, we still find the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry, and grasping the spoil of the multitude. Invention is continually exercised, to furnish new pretenses for revenues and taxation. It watches prosperity as its prey and permits none to escape without tribute." --Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1791

farmfriend  posted on  2009-08-09   19:49:58 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#57. To: buckeroo (#54)

But, the truth is: America had nothing to do with the trigger mechanisms. All you see is ineptitude and silly blunders in governance before and after the event.

No. Really you need to see that video. I'm going to see if some of it is on youtube. Stay tuned.


"If, from the more wretched parts of the old world, we look at those which are in an advanced stage of improvement, we still find the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry, and grasping the spoil of the multitude. Invention is continually exercised, to furnish new pretenses for revenues and taxation. It watches prosperity as its prey and permits none to escape without tribute." --Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1791

farmfriend  posted on  2009-08-09   19:51:16 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#58. To: christine (#50)

Mohamed Atta was not an American he was an Egyptian. He was a terrorist upon America soil just like all the others from Saudi Arabia during 9/11 using box-cutters and Jets.

buckeroo  posted on  2009-08-09   19:53:57 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#59. To: buckeroo (#53)

Ok this one was taken from the video I was talking about.


"If, from the more wretched parts of the old world, we look at those which are in an advanced stage of improvement, we still find the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry, and grasping the spoil of the multitude. Invention is continually exercised, to furnish new pretenses for revenues and taxation. It watches prosperity as its prey and permits none to escape without tribute." --Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1791

farmfriend  posted on  2009-08-09   19:54:24 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#60. To: christine (#55)

It wasn't Laden. It was a failure of governance. Then again, that is not the reason for the trigger mechanisms. It just shows the incompetence of the people in power that are too lazy to perform their jobs while eating donuts and sucking down coffee while watching porn on government computers.

These people that forcefully extract our tax dollars are worthless towards the sanctity and preservation about our individual rights and liberties. And what makes it worse, they know it, too.

buckeroo  posted on  2009-08-09   19:59:01 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#61. To: buckeroo (#11)

The US maintains about 25% of the world's economy

That's an out-of-date figure. I'd say it's below 20 by now. The U.S. GDP number in itself is phony, based mainly on vendor-financed consumption. The vendors are wising up, too. They realize this economy is a hollow shell and they have no hope of ever being paid back.

“I would give no thought of what the world might say of me, if I could only transmit to posterity the reputation of an honest man.” - Sam Houston

Sam Houston  posted on  2009-08-09   20:06:42 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#62. To: farmfriend (#59)

This and similar presentations show that no matter how you weasel-word it (no "trigger mechanmisms" and "failure of governance" there) it's a lead-pipe cinch that 19 Arabs were NOT the authors of this horror.

They are the Lee Harvey Oswalds of this generation.

And at least six of them are demostrably walking around breathing and giving interviews.

Only the most dense among us don't recognize the something here stinks terribly with this story - the government story.

Join 2x4 Tuesdays & protect your RKBA.
www.righttokeepandbeararms.com

randge  posted on  2009-08-09   20:16:00 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#63. To: farmfriend (#59)

Unconvincing. It is a surreptitious method of creating doubt about direct American government involvement using shadows and various methods that have no basis in fact.

I had a friend on a plane that day although it hit the pentagon not the twin towers. I have never seen her again. And I can say, I truly miss her.

buckeroo  posted on  2009-08-09   20:21:22 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#64. To: Sam Houston (#61)

That's an out-of-date figure. I'd say it's below 20 by now. The U.S.

Just great; you are quibbling with the fact that America comprises about 4% of the world's total population. Please understand the tremendous ramifications of our wealth here in America; we dominate the entire planet.

buckeroo  posted on  2009-08-09   20:30:41 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#65. To: Sam Houston (#61)

And just in case you didn't think I saw your 20% error that you claim I created, here is some news from the World Bank proving I was correct about the economic strength of America. America stands at about 24% of world economic transactions.

RankCountryGDP (millions of USD)

Flag of World World62,250,000
 European Union18,850,000

1 United States14,330,000
2 Japan4,844,000

3 People's Republic of China4,222,000
4 Germany3,818,000
5

 France2,978,000
6 United Kingdom2,787,000
7 Italy

2,399,000
8 Russia1,757,000
9 Spain1,683,000

10 Brazil1,665,000
11 Canada1,564,000

12 India1,237,000
13 Mexico1,143,000

14 Australia1,069,000
15 Netherlands909,500
16

 South Korea857,500
17 Turkey798,900
18 Poland

567,400
19 Belgium530,600
20 Sweden512,900

21 Indonesia510,800
22 Switzerland492,600

23 Norway481,100
24 Saudi Arabia467,700

25 Austria432,400
26Flag of the Republic of China Taiwan401,600

27 Iran382,300
28 Greece373,500
29

 Denmark369,600
30 Argentina338,700
31 Venezuela

331,800
32 South Africa300,400
33 Finland287,600

34 Ireland285,000
35 Thailand272,100

36 United Arab Emirates270,000
37 Portugal255,500

38 Colombia249,800
 Hong Kong223,800
39

 Nigeria220,300
40 Czech Republic217,200
41 Malaysia

214,700
42 Romania213,900
43 Ukraine198,000

44 Israel188,700
45 Chile181,500

46 Philippines172,300
47 Algeria171,300

48 Hungary164,300
49 Pakistan160,900
50

 Kuwait159,700
51 Egypt158,300
52 Singapore

154,500
53 Kazakhstan141,200
54 New Zealand135,700

55 Peru131,400
56 Qatar116,900

57 Libya108,500
58 Slovakia100,600

59 Angola95,950
60 Iraq93,800
61

 Vietnam90,880
62 Morocco90,497
63 Bangladesh

83,040
64 Croatia63,950
65 Sudan62,190

66 Belarus57,680
67 Luxembourg57,610

68 Slovenia57,010
69 Oman56,320

70 Cuba55,180
71 Ecuador54,670
72

 Azerbaijan53,260
73 Serbia52,180
74 Bulgaria

51,930
75 Lithuania48,750
76 Dominican Republic45,690

77 Syria44,490
78 Sri Lanka42,160

79 Tunisia41,770
80 Guatemala36,280

81 Latvia33,900
82 Kenya31,420
83

 Costa Rica30,380
84 Turkmenistan28,820
85 Uruguay

28,350
86 Lebanon28,020
87 Yemen27,560

88 Uzbekistan26,620
89 North Korea26,200

90 Cyprus25,590
91 Estonia25,210

92 Ethiopia25,080
93 Cameroon25,000
94

 Trinidad and Tobago24,610
95 Ivory Coast23,780
96 Panama

23,420
97 El Salvador22,280
98 Tanzania20,630

99 Equatorial Guinea20,160
100 Bahrain19,680

101 Bosnia and Herzegovina19,360
 Macau19,200

102 Jordan19,120
103 Iceland19,020
104

 Bolivia18,940
105 Ghana17,720
106 Brunei

17,180
107 Paraguay16,360
108 Gabon15,910

109 Zambia15,230
110 Uganda15,040

111 Senegal13,900
112 Botswana13,810

113 Honduras13,780
114 Burma13,700
115

 Albania13,520
116 Jamaica13,470
117 Republic of the Congo

13,350
118 Georgia13,280
119 Democratic Republic of the Congo12,960

120 Afghanistan12,850
121 Nepal12,640

122 Armenia12,070
123 Cambodia10,820

124 Mozambique9,788
125 Madagascar9,729
126

 Republic of Macedonia9,624
127 Chad9,106
128 Mali

8,776
129 Malta8,584
130 Burkina Faso8,242

131 Mauritius8,128
132 Namibia7,781

133 Haiti6,966
134 Benin6,940

135 The Bahamas6,935
Palestinian flag West Bank and Gaza6,641

136 Nicaragua6,561
137 Papua New Guinea6,363

138 Moldova6,197
139 Niger5,322

140 Laos5,187
 Jersey5,100
141

 Kyrgyzstan5,050
142 Liechtenstein4,993
143 Mongolia

4,991
144 Tajikistan4,788
 Aruba4,548

145 Zimbabwe4,548f
146 Montenegro4,515

147 Guinea4,454
148 Malawi4,082

149 Rwanda4,027
 French Polynesia3,800

150 Fiji3,783
151 Barbados3,777
152

 Mauritania3,625
 New Caledonia3,300
 Kosovo

3,237
153 Togo3,009
154 Suriname2,984

155 Swaziland2,968
 Guam2,773

 Guernsey2,742
 Isle of Man2,719

156 Somalia2,600
157 Central African Republic2,087
158

 Sierra Leone1,971
159 Cape Verde1,845
 Faroe Islands

1,700
 Greenland1,700
160 Lesotho1,652

161 Eritrea1,479
162 Belize1,383

163 Bhutan1,368
164 Maldives1,296

165 Guyana1,134
166 Antigua and Barbuda1,126

 Gibraltar1,066
167 San Marino1,048
168 Saint Lucia

1,031
169 Djibouti973
170 Liberia926

171 Burundi903
 British Virgin Islands839.7

172 The Gambia779
173 Seychelles779

174 Grenada657
 Northern Mariana Islands633.4
175

 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines597
176 Vanuatu560
177 Saint Kitts and Nevis

559
179 Comoros557
180 Samoa537

181 East Timor489
182 Solomon Islands460

182 Guinea-Bissau442
183 Dominica365

 American Samoa333.8
184 Tonga258
185

 Micronesia232
 Cook Islands183
186 Palau

164
187 São Tomé and Príncipe160
188 Marshall Islands144

 Anguilla108.9
189 Kiribati71

190 Tuvalu14.94
 Niue10.01

buckeroo  posted on  2009-08-09   20:59:15 ET  (212 images) Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#66. To: buckeroo (#65)

"economic transactions"

That phrase is quite telling. It's indicative of a phony, consumption-based, FIRE-based economy. "Transactions" are not the same as "production."

The U.S. economy is now about five percent smaller than it was at its peak. China slowed down, but has not had a down quarter yet. I don't know about India.

“I would give no thought of what the world might say of me, if I could only transmit to posterity the reputation of an honest man.” - Sam Houston

Sam Houston  posted on  2009-08-09   21:07:34 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#67. To: Sam Houston (#66)

China slowed down, but has not had a down quarter yet. I don't know about India.

If you had bothered to read the stats presented, you could have realized these folks are way behind us. Now, please don't misunderstand me again. I am not suggesting America is increasing economic strength. I am suggesting we actually carry the world's economy particularly when you factor in the populace.

Some folks around the world consider us as living GODS because of this average wealth disparity amongst nations. You can't get around it.

buckeroo  posted on  2009-08-09   21:15:23 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#68. To: F16Fighter (#27)

We will still be there,protecting and supporting those parasites 30 years from now.

And for every one of those 30 years resenting out sacrifice and presence while deriding how stoopid America is.

We ARE stoopid for doing this. I have said it before and I will say it again,where we screwed up was in not calling all the tribal chiefs together after removing the Taliban from power,and telling them,"We are done here. Now it's up to you to form your own government and take care of your own problems. If you want a Islamic government,that's fine with us as long as you don't try to cause us any more grief. If you are friendly,we may even give you a few bucks for reconstruction and send some skilled people to tell you how to build and fix things.

If you screw up and let the Taliban take power again or cause us any grief in any way,we will come back and hang whatever goat-humper you put in charge of your country and his entire government with pigs intestines and then burn or destroy every mosque and other public building in the country before leaving again.

And then we should have left.

sneakypete  posted on  2009-08-10   12:40:51 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#69. To: farmfriend (#57)

9-11 The Ripple Effect Here it is.

Ragin1  posted on  2009-08-10   13:05:04 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#70. To: sneakypete (#68)

here's the problem with your scenario, pete. we're not there for the reasons you enumerate. that's simply the pretense. this is an excerpt regarding 911/Iraq/Afghan from a newsletter of Jim Willie. i believe he's dead on in his assessment:

No need to expound too much on my views regarding the 911 False Flag attack on the Pentagon and World Trade Center. A quick summary will do. Fully 50% of Americans call it an inside job, but only 12% believe the WTC collapse was a demolition project, still relatively clueless. Basic understanding of high school chemistry and physics would lead to over 90% comprehension and suspicion (see gravity and melting point of structural steel). A missile hit the Pentagon precisely at the Army Accounting office location, which was soon to publish a report on $2.3 trillion in missing funds over two decades. The World Trade Center event on 911 was the biggest bank heist in US history, yet unrecognized officially in annals. The theft of $100 billion in gold bullion from basement vaults, along with $100 billion in USTreasury bearer bonds, and $100 billion in diamonds was truly significant. Information sources of mine are as numerous as they are independent, all consistent in the stories. The entire 911 events enabled the launch of an Iraq War to establish a military foundation in the Middle East, to motivate enormous defense contracts, to confiscate Iraqi oil to assure military oil supply, and to enable vast service contractor funds to flow for gigantic fraud and theft. Recall that $50 billion is still missing, not even being searched for, in the Iraqi Reconstruction Fund managed by the Bush II Admin. Mission Accomplished! Last was the biggest benefit of all: the capture of the Afghan narcotics prize by the CIA. That permitted the CIA to control over 80% of the global narcotics trade, whose clearinghouse is the Bank of Baghdad, managed by JPMorgan. The US Federal Reserve is well aware of the money laundering operations that reach Wall Street banks.

christine  posted on  2009-08-10   13:56:31 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#71. To: buckeroo (#67)

Some folks around the world consider us as living GODS because of this average wealth disparity amongst nations. You can't get around it.

I like your new schtick. This site is getting it's version of McCain Rocks. lol

mininggold  posted on  2009-08-10   13:59:10 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#72. To: Ragin1, farmfriend, buckeroo (#69)

My favorite 911 film is Sofia Shafquat's 911 Mysteries: Demolitions. It can be viewed here, but it's well worth purchasing the DVD.

911 Mysteries: Demolitions

christine  posted on  2009-08-10   14:08:33 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#73. To: christine (#70)

++


"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams

Rotara  posted on  2009-08-10   14:57:55 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#74. To: christine (#72)

Thanks, I'll look into it. My political group has meetings on the 2nd and 4th wed so one of our members has a movie night at his place on the alternate wed. I probably wouldn't watch half these movies otherwise.


"If, from the more wretched parts of the old world, we look at those which are in an advanced stage of improvement, we still find the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry, and grasping the spoil of the multitude. Invention is continually exercised, to furnish new pretenses for revenues and taxation. It watches prosperity as its prey and permits none to escape without tribute." --Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1791

farmfriend  posted on  2009-08-10   17:02:59 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#75. To: Ragin1 (#69)

Thanks!


"If, from the more wretched parts of the old world, we look at those which are in an advanced stage of improvement, we still find the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry, and grasping the spoil of the multitude. Invention is continually exercised, to furnish new pretenses for revenues and taxation. It watches prosperity as its prey and permits none to escape without tribute." --Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1791

farmfriend  posted on  2009-08-10   17:05:10 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  



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