Obama to seek $83.4 billion for Iraq, Afghan wars
 

Interesting article.

Smedley Butler was right.

Change!!....

When??

Presto-chango?

Is that what you were expecting?

Shoot, I'll have to wait until I get home to watch it. :)

Welp, there's your change for you. Obama the candidate is finding out what Obama the President has to actually do to act in the nation's interest, and humanity's not so incidentally.

I'd rather hoped he would.

Imagine that. Funny how a person running for president can change his tune after he is read-in on all the facts concerning security and national defense issues.

You mean after he gets a chance to make an informed decision? I'm actually ok with the banter beforehand. I just hope Obama is smart enough to make the right call after he gets "all the info"

Was this in the budget or is this an additional expense not already accounted for?

Separate budget. Not accounted for previously in discussions about the economy but it has been looming large on the edge of the room.

So we are adding this? After all the talk of how wrong Bush was to not include the war in his budget, this looks an awful lot like the same thing.

Yes, added or adding as the case may be.

I dont understand the issue here.

Yes, this supplemental to the 09 budget is not in the budget that was adopted last year. 09 was Bush's last budget and did not include war funding (none of his budgets ever included war funding) and Bush's last supplemental (non-budget request) was only through May.

Starting with the 2010 budget, Iraq and Afghanistan war costs are budgeted. That is the difference.

The plan for withdrawing most troops from Iraq has been extended from the 16 month campaign pledge to 18 months, after consulting with the commanders in the field. It could very well change again, depending on conditions on the ground.

I still dont like doubling down in Afghanistan, but at least there is a plan now.

Or after he's been taken to visit "the Kennedy Room".

Also, why the hell would a senator vote for anything, if he isn't told why he's being asked to vote for it? Any senator that would vote for something without knowing the facts should be run out of congress. Secrecy be damned.

Just saying.