Veteran Charlie McGrath lays down the truth ruthlessly once again this time on the subject of the NDAA (the law which now fully legalizes indefinite detention without trial) and the not so surprising news that Obama isn't going to veto the bill.
For more from Charlie visit http://www.wideawakenews.com or http://youtube.com/crabbydogtrix
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patterns_of_Global_Terrorism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Due_process
http://rt.com/usa/news/obama-detention-veto-defense-853/ Category
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[UPDATED BELOW]
War critics in Congress would be foolish not to seize on the assertion from Gen. David Petraeus’ former chief logistician that the annual cost of air conditioning in Iraq and Afghanistan is over $20 billion:
“When you consider the cost to deliver the fuel to some of the most isolated places in the world — escorting, command and control, medevac support — when you throw all that infrastructure in, we’re talking over $20 billion,” Steven Anderson tells weekends on All Things Considered guest host Rachel Martin. Anderson is a retired brigadier general who served as Gen. David Patreaus’ chief logistician in Iraq. … To power an air conditioner at a remote outpost in land-locked Afghanistan, a gallon of fuel has to be shipped into Karachi, Pakistan, then driven 800 miles over 18 days to Afghanistan on roads that are sometimes little more than “improved goat trails,” Anderson says. “And you’ve got risks that are associated with moving the fuel almost every mile of the way.”
“When you consider the cost to deliver the fuel to some of the most isolated places in the world — escorting, command and control, medevac support — when you throw all that infrastructure in, we’re talking over $20 billion,” Steven Anderson tells weekends on All Things Considered guest host Rachel Martin. Anderson is a retired brigadier general who served as Gen. David Patreaus’ chief logistician in Iraq. …
To power an air conditioner at a remote outpost in land-locked Afghanistan, a gallon of fuel has to be shipped into Karachi, Pakistan, then driven 800 miles over 18 days to Afghanistan on roads that are sometimes little more than “improved goat trails,” Anderson says. “And you’ve got risks that are associated with moving the fuel almost every mile of the way.”
Like the $600 toilet seat, this is the sort of statistic that people remember.
Anderson’s methodology for reaching the figure is not entirely clear; for example it’s possible that he’s using the entire overhead cost of the fuel supply line in his calculations, which would produce an inflated figure. (If I’m able to reach him to detail his calculations, I will update this post.)
As NPR notes, the cost of air conditioning for Iraq and Afghanistan is more than the annual budget of NASA. How much is it in the context of other budget items in the news recently? $20.2 billion is …
UPDATE: Anderson sends along a note about his methodology:
The short answer to your question is that my calculations are based on the Fully Burdened Cost of Fuel (FBCF), which includes overhead such as route clearance, road maint, security/escorts, command and control, medevac, etc. My conservative number is the fully burdened fuel costs are $30/gallon for Afghanistan, $18/gallon for Iraq (much better transportation network). When I was the senior staff logistician in Iraq from Aug 06 – Nov 07, DLA-Energy estimated the FBCF as $13.44/gallon, by the way. Deloitte studied issue in Nov 09 and wrote fully burdened cost is $45/gallon when ground transport exceeds 950 miles (see attached report). In consideration of the fact that most fuel is transported from US to Karachi, then driven over perhaps the most mountainous and challenging roads in the world to one of the two US/NATO Afghan log bases (Kandahar and Bagram), then downloaded to strategic storage, then uploaded to other trucks and moved to the actual requirement (usually in excess of 950 miles total) in hundreds of [Forward Operating Bases] throughout Afghanistan, one can see that my estimate is indeed quite conservative. I low-balled it so that folks don’t think I’m cooking the books somehow.
However, any fully burdened fuel cost will NOT pick up the cost in blood.
That Deloitte report — which features a stunning image of a fuel truck convoy in the mountains of Afghanistan — is here (.pdf).
Justin Elliott is a Salon reporter. Reach him by email at jelliott@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @ElliottJustin More Justin Elliott
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December 22, 2011
According to Michelle Obama’s press office, the first dog was planning to go to Hawaii with the first lady and the Obama daughters. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that he in fact had gone there. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser quoted an eyewitness who said he had seen the Portuguese Water Dog having his walk.
So what is Bo doing back in Washington shopping at PetSmart?
Either these reports are mistaken, or Bo was told his vacation was over and that he had to return to the White House to keep a lonely president company – and participate in a silly photo op presenting Obama as an average guy who likes to head out to the PetSmart.
It’s possible he hitched a ride on a return flight of the Air Force plane that brought Michelle from Hawaii, which wouldn’t have really added much to Michelle’s more than $100,000 price tag for her solo trip.