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Originally posted by itlnlovr5
it still doesn't answer the question Carburetor. we do have a lot of military power i mean the marine corp alone could take out iran (oor-rah) if and only if we had the money to do so. but you have to think about how much money its going to cost us to fight 3 countries and help iraq.
[edit on 16-2-2005 by itlnlovr5]
U.S. Military Spending
The United States, being the most formidable military power, it is worth looking at their spending.
The U.S. military budget request for Fiscal Year 2005 is $420.7 billion
* For Fiscal Year 2004 it was $399.1 billion.
* For Fiscal Year 2003 it was $396.1 billion.
* For Fiscal Year 2002 it was $343.2 billion.
* For Fiscal Year 2001 it was $305 billion. And Congress had increased that budget request to $310 billion.
* This was up from approximately $288.8 billion, in 2000.
Compared to the rest of the world, these numbers are indeed staggering.
In Context: U.S. Military Spending Versus Rest of the World
Consider the following:
* The US military budget is almost as much as the rest of the world's.
* The US military budget is more than 8 times larger than the Chinese budget, the second largest spender.
* The US military budget is more than 29 times as large as the combined spending of the seven “rogue” states (Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria) who spent $14.4 billion.
* It is more than the combined spending of the next twenty three nations.
* The United States and its close allies account for some two thirds to three-quarters of all military spending, depending on who you count as close allies (typically NATO countries, Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan and South Korea)
* The seven potential “enemies,” Russia, and China together spend $116.2 billion, 27.6% of the U.S. military budget.
Originally posted by itlnlovr5
do you think we could afford to right now go to war with three countries?
Originally posted by justinxc
Very interesting stats, and again I had no idea it was that much more than the "axis of evil" . What tactics do you all think the U.S. will use against NK, Iran and Syria? Is the airforce enough to decimate thier armies? Again I agree the U.S. will not be occupying these places (if they can avoid it).
By the way, I think we will evetually be drug into a conflict outside of Iraq very soon. Rhetoric is very simillar to build up to Iraq war. Just hope there isnt a draft.
The US spends more in its own military then just about the whole rest of the world combined spend on theirs. That should tell you enough right there. Our black budget alone is bigger then many countries whole military budget.
If people underestimate that they do so at their own risk like djohnsto77 said.
Originally posted by mwm1331
sure you can johhny, you just have to kill a hell of a lot more of em to weed out the agression. Kinda like killing any pit bulls who attck or are agressive and only allowng those who are docile to breed.
We can do the same to the middle east it'll just take awhile.
Originally posted by justinxc
Hello everybody,
Before I begin, I just wanna say this is my first post, so have mercy, and that I always enjoy reading the intelligent conversations that go on here.
This is a great place to hear different points of view and get information the normal media just cannot match. Anyway, on to my topic.
Just how powerful is the U.S. military? Can we reallly defend ourselves against all the threats arising? I gotta tell ya, I cannot help but think that we are being underestimated by a lot of countries out there, just becuase who the hell knows what we have. Dubya must know something we don't. Am I wrong? Why is it everybody takes our aggressiveness? Lets try to leave the nuke factor out, because china has them too and so does russia. What make our (conventional) military so powerful. Im not biased in either direction, just wanna get some perspective that is all. I look forward to reading your thoughts. Can we come out of this supposed "war on terror" in one piece?
Actually I think America is being OVERestimated militarily.
They are reaching crisis point in Iraq, with not enough soldiers,
recruitment is dropping, reservists are being called up for active duty.