Funding Corruption and Waste in Afghanistan
from Ron Paul's Texas Straight Talk, July 12, 2010:
Last week, GOP chairman Michael Steele came under fire for daring to say what a lot of Americans already know – that our involvement in Afghanistan
is an ill-advised quagmire with no end in sight. After nearly 10 years and approaching $1 trillion spent, the conflict is going nowhere because there
is nowhere for it to go. After all, if victory is never really defined, defeat is inevitable.
With our economy at home in serious trouble, this wasteful occupation is something we clearly cannot afford. Each soldier costs us $1 million per
year, and yet most in Washington are only considering how many more soldiers to send.
Fuel costs an astonishing $400 per gallon for our military in
Afghanistan! Yet somehow, many politicians feel it is acceptable to squeeze this money out of our taxpayers, who are truly struggling
economically, to fund this non-war. Our economy here is not showing any real signs of improvement. Official unemployment is pushing 10% and getting
worse. (Real unemployment is over 20%, according to the free-market economists.) The growing debt and inflation used to fund this occupation only
dooms us to more economic hardship for a long time to come. And - for what?