If you put it that way...

[Wuyizidi]

From the congressional newspaper The Hill (http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing- ... fghanistan): cost of stationing one U.S. soldier in Afghanistan for one year - $1 million.

[Chris Fleming]

Truly saddens the heart to think of it that way, on so many levels.

For one thing, it shows the priorities of the US and what we as a strong, wealthy country choose to do with our money. It is not necessarily the case that we as a country MUST feed the world but think of all the other ways such a sum of money could be used.

Secondly, the cost of printing all that fiat currency and spending it thus is a long term damage to everyone. The oft quoted Dick Cheney-ism of "debts don't matter" is quite foolish.

For me this truly goes to show an illustration of Orwell's thought that to a nation that chooses to govern itself this way, war is not only beneficial but absolutely NEEDED to remain in control over people and resources that otherwise could be used for the betterment of a wide range of people, rather than the few. War is peace. Interesting that authors such as Orwell wrote back in the day, way before our "war on terror", that endless wars against fabled enemies are exactly what governments use to appropriate resources and wealth as well as make the subjugation of the citizens via the taking away of rights very easy to do.

It's sad to think about the soldiers there fighting, against an enemy that the US has created, all for the sake of oil and opium, only to be told that he is "defending the US" and "protecting our country".

[Ian]

I don't get how they're calculating their figures..

they're spending 3.6 billion per month, so 43.2 billion per year

assuming 51,000 troops, that's ~ $850,000 per troop

assuming 68,000 troops, that's ~ $640,000 per troop

not a million.

[Teazer]

It also doesn't mention how much of that would still be spent if the troops were staying in the US.

[Chris Fleming]

Just think about how many gallons of gasoline it takes to run a military force abroad. A million gallons a day probably. Then a president stands in front of a camera and says that "America is addicted to oil".