WE ALL KNOW THAT THE WARS OF
THE UNITED STATES HAVE ENGAGED IN SINCE 9/11 AND IRAQ AND
AFGHANISTAN SYRIAN THROUGHOUT THE REGION OBVIOUSLY HAVING COME
CHEAP BUT THE ACTUAL DOLLAR FIGURE THAT CAN BE PUT TO THOSE
WARS IS GETTING DAMN NEAR IMPOSSIBLE TO IMAGINE.
A NEW REPORT FROM BROWN UNIVERSITY ESTIMATES THEY
WASHINGTON HAS SPENT NEARLY $5 TRILLION IN SEPTEMBER 11,
2000 AND ONE ON THE WARS LAUNCHED UNDER THE PRETEXT
OF FIGHTING TERRORISM.
YOU COULD GO TO BROWN FOR FOUR YEARS WITHOUT MUCH.
YOU CAN'T STUDY ARE BROADER ANYTHING.
WATCH YOUR MOUTH.
THAT'S A VERY BIG NUMBER AND WE ARE GOING TO BRING DOWN SOME
OF WHAT THAT REPRESENTS BUT YOU SHOULD ALSO KNOW THAT THERE WAS
ANOTHER REPORT ISSUED TWO YEARS AGO BY HARVARD THAT ESTIMATED
THAT THE COST OF THE I ROCK AND AFGHANISTAN WERE AMOUNTED TO
$75,000 FOR EVERY AMERICAN HOUSEHOLD.
WE DO NOT HAVE A
POPULAR VOTE BEFORE WE GO TO WAR BUT IF WE DID, AND YOU TOLD
PEOPLE IT WOULD COST $75,000 FOR EVERY SINGLE FAMILY, I DON'T
THINK A LOT OF PEOPLE WOULD PUSH THE YES BUTTON.
NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE GO VOTE EITHER.
THAT'S THE PROBLEM THAT.
INTERESTINGLY THERE WAS A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
PROPOSED TO MAKE ALL WARS GO TO A VOTE.
ANYONE WHO VOTED WOULD HAVE TO BE DRAFTED.
I'M ALL FOR LET'S ACTUALLY HAVE A DECLARATION OF WAR PRESS
TO GO TO WAR.
I'M ALL FOR TAKE, I'M WITH RAND PAUL ON THIS ONE,
TAKING THE POWERS AWAY FROM THE PRESIDENT.
HE IS JUST WAGING
WARS ALL OVER THE WORLD RIGHT NOW THAT WE BONDS HOW MANY
DIFFERENT MUSLIM COUNTRIES, SEVEN OR EIGHT?
WE ARE BOMBING
THEM CONSTANTLY.
HE IS STILL DOING THOSE WARS IN IRAQ AND
AFGHANISTAN AND THAT STUPID AUTHORIZATION THEY GAVE AFTER
9/11.
IT IS COMPLETELY CORRUPT AND WHO WANTS TO KEEP IT THIS
WAY?
THE DONORS.
THE DONORS ONCE KEEP IT THIS WAY.
THEY LOVE THE AFGHANISTAN WAR AND THE IRAQI WAR.
THEY LOVE SYRIA.
THEY LOVE IT.
MAKE CONGRESS THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND THE
SENATE THOUGH ON THE DRAFT IN AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS.
GIVE THE WAR POWER.
OH IF THERE'S A WAR THERE HAS TO BE A DRAFT.
THAT'S A GREAT IDEA.
BUT THE MILITARY WAS SMART AND GOT RID OF THE DRAFT SO THAT
THEY COULD HAVE IN THIS WAR.
I DON'T KNOW THE EVERYBODY COMMITTED IT THAT WAY BECAUSE A
LOT OF PEOPLE WANTED TO.
JIMMY CARTER PUT THE REGISTRATION BACK
AND EVERYONE WAS UP IN ARMS BECAUSE THEY THOUGHT THE ALL THE
KIDS WERE GOING TO BE DRAFTED AND IT WILL MAKE IT EASIER TO
HAVE WARS THAT ARE NOT OF GREAT CONSEQUENCE.
WE'VE HAD WORDS
THAT ARE NOT OF GREAT CONSEQUENCE BECAUSE WE HAVE A
VOLUNTEER ARMY.
IT IS DESPICABLE.
I DON'T KNOW THAT
IT WAS A BUNCH OF PEOPLE SITTING IN THE BACK OF THE ROOM SAYING
HA BUT I'M SURE THERE PEOPLE WHO WERE REALLY HAPPY ABOUT IT.
LET'S BREAK DOWN THE FIRST STUDY ABOUT THE $5 TRILLION.
THIS IS FROM THAT A CRAWFORD THE BOSTON UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR WHO
HEADED UP THE STUDY.
A FULL ACCOUNTING OF ANY WARS BURDENS
CANNOT BE PLACED IN COLUMNS ON A LEDGER.
FROM MOST CIVILIANS
HARMED OR DISPLACED BY VIOLENCE TO THE SOLDIERS KILLED AND
WOUNDED TO THE CHILDREN WHO PLAY YEARS LATER ON ROADS AND FILLED
SOME WITH IMPROVISED EXPLOSIVE DEVICES AND CLUSTER BOMBS, NO
SET OF NUMBERS CAN CONVEY THE HUMAN TOLL OF THE WARS IN IRAQ
AND AFGHANISTAN AND SO THE NUMBERS WE'RE GOING TO SHOW DO
NOT EXPRESS THE FULL EXTENT OF THE COST OF THESE WARS.
IT IS
SIMPLY A TOOL TO FIGURE OUT IT IS LITERALLY COSTING IN DOLLARS.
THE OVERALL COST DIRECTLY OF THESE WARS IS 1.7
TRILLIONDIRECTLY APPROPRIATED BY CONGRESS.
THOSE OF THOSE EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE THEY DO EXTRA SPENDING
BECAUSE NOBODY COULD'VE PREDICTED THAT THE WAR AND YOUR
FIVE WOULD LEAD TO GARY 6.
ALL OF A SUDDEN IT CAME UP AND WE
NEED TO SPEND MORE MONEY.
THAT IS WHY IT IS IN ADDITION TO THE
PENTAGON'S BASE BUDGET WHICH WAS ABOUT $6.8 TRILLION.
THAT IS A
DIRECT FUNDING.IN ADDITION TO THAT DIRECT FUNDING, THE REPORT
INCLUDES THE COST OF VETERANS MEDICAL AND DISABILITY CARE,
ALLOCATIONS FOR HOMELAND SECURITY, INSURANCE ON PENTAGON
WAR APPROPRIATIONS AND FUTURE COST FOR VETERANS CARE.
THESE
ARE THE SORTS OF COSTS THAT DON'T OFTEN GET DISCUSSED BEFORE
THE WAR BUT CERTAINLY ARE CONSEQUENTIAL AFTER THE WAR.
FOR INSURANCE, THE INTEREST PAID ON THE EXPENSES IS $450 BILLION.
YOU COULD FINDTHE CRAZY EXPENSIVE PLAN FOR FREE
TUITION AT PUBLIC COLLEGES FOR THREE OR FOUR YEARS JUST ON
THE INTEREST ON THESE WARS IN PARTICULAR.
THAT IS CRAZY BECAUSE A LOT OF PEOPLE SUPPORTING THE
WEAKER CANDIDATE THIS YEAR TOLD ME THAT WAS CRAZY.
THEY DID SAY THAT.
YOU ARE SOUNDING CRAZY.
HOW ARE WE GOING TO AFFORD IT?
THAT IS JUST THE INTEREST BY THE WAY.
HOW ARE YOU GOING TO AFFORD CHEAPER MEDICINE?
ARE YOU CRAZY?
ACTIVE OVER HILLARY.
OBVIOUSLY WHEN YOU SEE $5 TRILLION YOU AUTOMATICALLY START
THINKING WHAT ELSE COULD BEEN BOUGHT WITH THIS IN ONE OF THE
THINGS THAT YOU COULD BUY IS ñ.
INTEGRITY FOR OUR POLITICAL CLASS?
3 1/2 TRILLION DOLLARS IS WHAT THE U.S.
ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS WOULD COST TO BRING UP TO CODE
ALL OF THE US INFRASTRUCTURE THAT IS CURRENTLY CRUMBLING.
ROSEN BRIDGES AND ALL OF THAT.
IS THAT INCLUDE THE PIPES OF FLINT?
I HOPE SO.
I THINK YOU COULD FIT IN EXTRA MONEY FOR THAT.
WE CAN'T GET UNLEADED WATER TO PLANT RIGHT NOW THE SOMEHOW
WE ARE STILL PRETTY SURE WE CAN FIX SYRIA.
IF WE COULD JUST FIX
THE WATER WITH SOME BOMBS MADE BY RAYTHEON AND GENERAL DYNAMIC
OR WHOEVER THE HELL MAKES THEM.
I THINK HOPEFULLY THERE WILL BE MONEY TO REFRESH AND RENEW OUR
INFRASTRUCTURE AS SOON AS WE'RE DONE DECIMATING THEIR STOCK.
WE NEED TO BUILD MORE SCHOOLS AND ROADS AND AFGHANISTAN
FIRST TO SHOW PEOPLE THAT WE ARE NICE.
I AM OKAY WITH THE SCHOOLS BEING BUILT.
I WISH WE WOULD BUILD THEM HERE.
WE SHOULD DO THEM BOTH.
A REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMAN DOESN'T PASS A HIGHWAY BILL
BECAUSE IT WOULD MAKE THE JOBS NUMBERS GOING TO FAVOR OF THE
DEMOCRATS AND THEY WILL SPEND THE MONEY ON THIS HIGHWAY BILL,
APPROPRIATIONS WITHOUT TYING IT TO ME INCREASED APPROPRIATIONS
FOR THESE WARS AND THEY ARE TOTALLY UNRELATED BUT THEY
CAN PULL THEM THAT WAY AND WHEN YOU HAVE THESE OMNIBUS
BILLS THEY DON'T BECOME UNRELATED SO THE WAY THE
CONGRESS WORKS ALSO WORKS AGAINST REALLOCATING THAT
MONEY TO THINGS THAT ARE BETTER SPENT.
EXACTLY.
THERE ARE SOME INVENTION ADDITIONAL
NONFINANCIAL COSTS THAT ARE ASSOCIATED WITH SOME OF THESE
THINGS.
MORE THAN 6000 1600 SOLDIERS WHO FOUGHT IN IRAQ AND
AFGHANISTAN HAVE UNDERGONE MAJOR LIMITATIONS AS A RESULT OF ONE
SUFFERED IN COMBAT AND REMINDER OF THE NUMBERS OF PEOPLE WHO OF
DIED IS NOT THE ONLY IMPORTANT NUMBER AS FAR AS WHO IS BEEN
EFFECTIVE FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIFE.
A TOTAL 203RD 20S ñ
327,000 VETERANS OF THESE WARS HAVE BEEN DIAGNOSED WHICH ARE
MEDIC BRAIN INJURY AS OF 2014 AND BY THE SAME YEAR FULLY
700,000 OUT OF THE 2.7 MILLION PEOPLE DIVIDE TO THE WAR ZONES
HAVE BEEN CLASSIFIED AS 30% OR MORE DISABLED.
THAT IS A BIG
NUMBER BUT OF COURSE THAT IS ONLY UP UNTIL THIS POINT.
THAT
NUMBER WILL CONTINUE TO ACCRUE BECAUSE OF THE WONDERFUL POWER
OF INTEREST AND THE REPORT ESTIMATES THAT UNLESS CONGRESS
CHANGES THE WAY THAT IT IS PAYING FOR THE WARS AND I DON'T
SEE HOW THEY COULD PAY OFF ALL OF A INSTANTLY, CUMULATIVE
LIVE INTEREST ON WAR PREPARATIONS MAY JUST THIRD
2013 WILL AMOUNT TO ALMOST $8 TRILLION BY 2053.
THIS COMES FROM THE WORLD SOCIALIST WEBSITE.
THAT'S TRUE BUT THEY ARE SIMPLY REPORTING ON THE INFORMATION.
I WAS GOING TO SAY JUST BECAUSE IT SAYS THAT DON'T DISCOUNT IT.
IT'S INFORMATION FROM THE REPORT, NOT THAT THERE IS
ANYTHING WRONG WITH THEM.
THOSE ARE STAGGERING NUMBERS.
THERE WERE SOME PEOPLE WHO WERE VERY STRONGLY AGAINST GOING
INTO WAR IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN.
WE COULD PROBABLY COME UP WITH SOME OF WE TRY.
BERNIE SANDERS.
THAT'S ONE.
THERE WERE MEDIA OUTLETS SHORTLY AGAINST IT.
YOUNG TURKS.
YOU PROBABLY SAID THE DESK AT 11 IF YOU THOUGHT HARD ENOUGH
ABOUT IT THAT WE KNEW THERE WOULD BE CONSEQUENCES AND BLOOD
BUT ALSO IN MONEY.
IF WE SPEND THE MONEY ON BOMBS AS OPPOSED TO
INFRASTRUCTURE OR HEALTH INSURANCE OR EDUCATION THAT
IS CONSEQUENCES THAT WE WILL NEVER SEE BUT IT REACHES
EVERY CORNER OF AMERICA OVER THE COURSE OF DECADES.
DID YOU REPORT WHEN WOLF BLITZER INTERVIEWED RAND PAUL.
RAND PAUL LIKE ME IS FOR BRINGING BACK THE POWER OF WAR
TO THE CONGRESS AND HE IS THE ONE THAT IS COMPLAINING THAT WE
ARE ARMING SAUDI ARABIA AND SAUDI ARABIA HAS INSERTED ITSELF
INTO YEMEN CIVIL WAR AND SINCE WE HAVE DONE A LOT OF REPORTING
ON THIS IN THE REPORTING SAYS THAT 70% OF THE PEOPLE THAT THE
SAUDI BOMBING HAS KILLED HAVE BEEN CIVILIANS ALONG WITH
HUNDREDS OF CHILDREN.
AND NOW THE DEATH TOLL IS IN YEMEN IS OVER 10,000
PEOPLE THAT WE KEEP ARMING THEM AND WE KEEP GIVING THEM
BOMBS TO GO BOMB CIVILIANS.
IT'S ALMOST LIKE WE ARE ARMING A RELIGIOUS FANATIC TO GO TO
TERRORISM IN ANOTHER COUNTRY, WHICH THEY ARE.
I HAVE TO SAY, JIMMY, I AM NOT EXCUSING IT BUT AT THE SAME
TIME, THIS EXAMPLE AND SAUDI ARABIA IS JUST ANOTHER EXAMPLE
OF HOW IT WORKS WHEN WE SELL OUR ARMS TO WHATEVER COUNTRY.
WE
SELL IT TO PARAGUAY AND THEY ARE FIGHTING GORILLAS THAT THEY
THINK ARE GORILLAS THAT ARE PROTESTERS IN THEIR COUNTRY
TRYING TO TURN BACK CLUES THAT ARE TRYING TO TURN BACK THAT
SAME THING ON A SMALLER SCALE AND IN A DIFFERENT PLACE BUT AS
SOON AS SAUDI ARABIA, BUT THIS IS BEEN GOING ON FOREVER.
MY POINT OF BRINGING THIS UP WAS WOLF BLITZER SAYS HIS FIRST
RESPONSE SAYING RAND PAUL SAYING WE SHOULD STOP ARMING THE SAUDIS
WERE KILLING INNOCENTS HE SAYS YOU KNOW THAT IS GOING TO COST A
LOT OF JOBS HERE AT HOME.
HE LITERALLY SAID THAT AND THEN HE
KEPT GOING.
HE DIDN'T STOP.
WOLF BLITZER LITERALLY SAID SO
YOU, THE LOSS OF JOBS HERE IN THE HER TO OUR MILITARY
INDUSTRY, THAT IS SECONDARY TO YOU.
BLITZER SAID THAT SARAN PAUL.
THAT IS OUR NEWS MAN.
YOU TELL ME HOW MESSED UP THIS CULTURE IS THAT YOU TELL ME
HOW MESSED UP OUR COUNTRY IS.
WE HAVE INTERNAL WAR.
WE'RE LIVING IN ORWELL RIGHT NOW PEOPLE THINK WE NEED TO
VOTE FOR MORE OF IT.
THEY ARE NUTS.
ONE OF THE THINGS WE HAVE TALKED ABOUT BASIC INCOME OR THE
STIMULUS BACK IN 2009 IN THE IDEA THAT IF YOU SIMPLY GIVE
MONEY, YOU CAN'T JUST GIVE MONEY TO PEOPLE TO SPEND, THAT WOULD
BE CRAZY.
SO WE SELL ARMS TO ANY NUMBER OF DIFFERENT
COUNTRIES WHICH IS ONE THING, THE OTHER THING WE DO IS THAT WE
GIVE HUGE QUANTITIES OF MONIES TO COUNTRIES TO THEN BY OUR ARMS
WITH.
ISRAEL, WE ARE ABOUT TO FINALIZE IDEAL, $38 BILLION OVER
10 YEARS WITH THE NEW STIPULATION THAT THEY CAN'T
SPEND AS MUCH OF THE MONEY ON THEIR OWN ARMS INDUSTRY, THEY
HAVE TO BUY THE WEAPONS FROM US WHICH IS BASICALLY THE
GOVERNMENT SAYING HERE YOU GIVE THAT TO HIM.
WHY CAN WE DO THAT?
WHY CAN WE HAD BILLIONS AND BILLIONS OF DOLLARS EVERY
YEAR TO THE ARMS INDUSTRY BUT WE CAN'T GIVE IT TO REGULAR
PEOPLE TO STIMULATE COMMUNITIES THROUGHOUT
THE COUNTRY?