Cost to Fight Each Al Qaeda Member in Afghanistan Per Year: $300 Million
December 23rd, 2009War is a Racket by Smedley D. Butler
Via: ABC News:
As he justified sending 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan at a cost of $30 billion a year, President Barack Obama’s description Tuesday of the al Qaeda “cancer” in that country left out one key fact: U.S. intelligence officials have concluded there are only about 100 al Qaeda fighters in the entire country.
A senior U.S. intelligence official told ABCNews.com the approximate estimate of 100 al Qaeda members left in Afghanistan reflects the conclusion of American intelligence agencies and the Defense Department. The relatively small number was part of the intelligence passed on to the White House as President Obama conducted his deliberations.
President Obama made only a vague reference to the size of the al Qaeda presence in his speech at West Point, when he said, “al Qaeda has not reemerged in Afghanistan in the same number as before 9/11, but they retain their safe havens along the border.”
A spokesperson at the White House’s National Security Council, Chris Hensman, said he could not comment on intelligence matters.
Your link to Butler’s book is perfect. Unfortunately, he is one of the greatest Americans no one has ever heard of in school, the news, or almost anywhere.
If folks just spent 10 minutes even reading his wikipedia info., it would possibly change their whole view.
obviously, with sort of outlay, it would behoove *somebody* to see these 100 people not be killed.
either that or it doesn’t matter at all *who or what* the target is, so long as the outlay continues.
and/or the trans-afghanistan pipeline security…
but certainly not cheaply. one could say we’re at peak dollars as much as at peak oil.
(how soon before we’re back on a gold standard?)
(what was the amero ever supposed to be backed by?)
Couldn’t be the smack fields that keep expanding could it…nahhh, get back to bed kids, santa’s almost here…
Would the U. S. Government consider funding an middle-of-the-road Islamic NGO to distribute $100 million worth of education and other essentials to the boys who will otherwise be seduced by the Taliban and Al Q? Of course not. That would undermine the world economy driven by arms trade, and any politician that proposes to do that quickly becomes an ex-politician, or an ex-person if they don’t go quietly. How about funding education etc. for Afghani women, then? Now you’re talking gendercide by the Taliban. Is there any hope of making any difference at all in Afghanistan? Yes, if you believe in time travel. You could journey back to pre-WWI and do things differently. Where is Buck Rogers when we need him?