[Newsbot]

Title: Canada's mission in Afghanistan could cost up to $18.1B
Category: Misc CDN
Posted By: WDHIII
Date: 2008-10-09 08:24:24
Canadian

[uwish]

thats a drop in the bucket compared to the 50 Billion of NDP aka liberal vote buying this campaign.

[Zipperfish]

I'm glad someone is tallying the cost. This Harper bit about "we will spend what is necessary" is a load of codswallop.

[Yogi]

What price; freedom?

[Scape]

Could be worse

Still, this is bloated no matter how you slice it. Add to that just how little thought was put on keeping accurate records It has the feeling that cash is just being thrown fast and loose. Considering we have ships from the 1960's that desperately need replacements and an air force that sorely needs upgrades we got put more care and be more deliberate in procurement. Transparency is a part of that and I have zero confidence in Harper to step up to that task the way he's been running the CF so far. Having a defence contractor that he had to shitcan run the show was a bad move in this regard. They need someone with a firm hand but that isn't a total industry insider at the reigns.

[Scape]

U.S. Study Is Said to Warn of Crisis in Afghanistan

$1:

The classified report finds that the breakdown in central authority in Afghanistan has been accelerated by rampant corruption within the government of President Hamid Karzai and by an increase in violence by militants who have launched increasingly sophisticated attacks from havens in Pakistan.

Henry A. Crumpton, a career C.I.A. officer who last year stepped down as the State Department’s top counterterrorism official, attributed some of Afghanistan’s problems to a “lack of leadership” both at the White House and in European capitals where commitments to rebuild Afghanistan after 2001 have never been met.

The Bush administration had long resisted making tribal elders a centerpiece of American strategy in Afghanistan. American officials had hoped instead that strong national institutions like the Afghan Army could protect the Afghan population, but the escalating violence this year has forced a reassessment of the value of the tribal system for counterinsurgency operations.

Administration officials say the review is examining how and where the nearly $6 billion in annual American assistance to Afghanistan is being spent; how to improve the effectiveness of small teams of American and European civilians and troops seeded throughout the Afghan provinces to spur economic growth; and how to strike the right balance between taking military action against the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Pakistan and providing more development aid to that country.

[mtbr]

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

I'm glad someone is tallying the cost. This Harper bit about "we will spend what is necessary" is a load of codswallop.

how pathetic have we become when we put a dollar value on human life and freedoms.

much of these costs are fixed and occur whether or not we are in Afghanistan .


The Canadian left makes me proud to be a Canadian

[Scape]

mtbr did you think $8 Billion was correct then?

[ridenrain]

Wow.. That's a whole lot more than the published costs from Chretien and martin...
...the published costs from Chretien and martin
...the published costs from Chretien and martin???

Under the Harper Conservatives:
We got public debate..
We got public votes..
We got approximate costs..

[Zipperfish]

mtbr mtbr:

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

I'm glad someone is tallying the cost. This Harper bit about "we will spend what is necessary" is a load of codswallop.

how pathetic have we become when we put a dollar value on human life and freedoms.

much of these costs are fixed and occur whether or not we are in Afghanistan .


The Canadian left makes me proud to be a Canadian

It's called fiscal responsibility. See, this is why right-wingers these days are the new socialists. You're an embarrassment to old school conservatives. You just want to write a blank cheque--with taxpayers money--to any idea that comes along that you like.

I support the Afghanistan War. I even support Harper's current position on it. But I also want to know what it costs, and I want that money to be overseen very carefully.

[RUEZ]

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

It's called fiscal responsibility. See, this is why right-wingers these days are the new socialists. You're an embarrassment to old school conservatives. You just want to write a blank cheque--with taxpayers money--to any idea that comes along that you like.

I support the Afghanistan War. I even support Harper's current position on it. But I also want to know what it costs, and I want that money to be overseen very carefully.

Don't we all want that?