Cost Just To Air Condition U.S. Troops In MidEast Twice That Of The EPA Budget

The financial costs of war are stunning. For example,  it costs $20 billion a year just to air condition the U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, more than twice the projected 2012 proposed budget of $8.9 billion for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Yet the EPA is responsible for enforcing Acts that cover clean air, clean water, cleaning up hazardous waste sites and green house gasses and protecting Americans from toxic chemicals and other major health risks. But due to a shortage of money, its budget is being slashed from $10 billion to a proposed $8.9 billion and will probably be cut even more as President Obama negotiates with the Republicans. http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/d0cf6618525a9efb85257359003fb69d/4a92c2cc38832e0b8525783700664650!OpenDocument

The U.S. troops deserve air conditioning in the intense heat of Iraq where summer temperatures can hit 125 degrees and upwards of that temperature in Afghanistan. But most of the people of those nations don't have air conditioning and resent U.S. officials and soldiers having it. Their occupier, the U.S. which they want out, lives far better than they do in their countries in many respects, and they know that too.

It makes one wonder about America's priorities and its sanity. Spend these vast sums on air conditioning and staggering sums more for the soldiers to fight, rather than ending the wars and bringing the soldiers home safely to their families.

Dick
Thank you to my friend and webmaster Jon Barnes, the Democratic Underground and Raw Story for sharing the U.S. military Middle East air conditioning budget information.   http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4897363