you state above that the surge is working.please explain why you feel it`s working.seems to me your view is quite simplistic and your statements about democrates just obnoxious.

I seem to recall (among others) crghss, tanglang and aniokly criticising the Democrats for spinelessness earlier. Now the Dems have discovered their spine, and you're criticising them for that too?

Your words reveal your true opinion - no matter what the Democrats do, it will be wrong in your eyes. If they vote to cough up the money, they're "spineless". If they vote to pay the money only on conditions, they're traitors and out to get the troops. Talk about Hobbs' choice....

I, for one, think that it is long overdue that Congress discovers its prerogatives again, and one of those prerogatives is control of the public purse. Conservatives never objected to the Repub Congress using it to their own political ends, so kindly tone down the hypocrisy when the Dems are using the treasury to force a withdrawal from a war that you shouldn't be in.

Face it - your military tries its best, but the incompetant commanders and civilian admin personnel have stuffed it up royally for them.

Welcome to the world of Orwell (or Rove!), David.

4% GDP does NOT equal 4% of government revenue.

If US taxation levels are around those ofof other Western economies, 4%GDP = 20-ish% of government revenue.

Get with the program, slate.

I come up with maybe 3 things.

1. US interests gain advantage in the exploitation of Iraqi oil resources.

2. US gains a military position to project power throughout the region.

3. Israel has one less arab country to worry about.

Those are not reasons for me to want to go over and kill Iraqis or anybody else.

Look at it this way, if you want to teach a dog a new trick and your using dog biscuits as the reward for learning, you don't feed him a huge dinner just before doggie class. If the dog's not hungry, a biscuit is not much of a reward. (This may not be a good metaphor as a dog will eat 'til overfull, puke, and then eat some more. Hmmm, on second thought, that is kind of like how DOD handles money.)

The good news for you is that are a large percentage of Americans who either can't cook, are too lazy to cook, or make enough maney that they can eat out regularly.

You are right. The violence is down because Iran has blocked the flow of its explosives into Iraq.

The best thing we can do for our soldiers is thank them for their service and bring them home for a much deserved rest.

The Democrats have been out of "our" pockets for at least six years. Now we have largest deficit in our history, and we are mired in an unjust war. You Republicans have done a fine job!

You can drill all you want, there isn't enough oil in this country to satisfy our need.

"Message to the do-nothing Iraq government - your free lunch is over"

The Iraq government needs a STRONG signal that the U.S. money train is not leaving the station this time.

Also, the U.S. government does not have control of "the other 96% of the G.D.P"

Now, yes alot of my driving is work related. However, I still pay the gas and get expense checks written to me 6 times a year. So I still have to work that money into my finances.

Are you saying that eating at home as opposed to going out does not save money? Because it does. And the people whocannot afford gas are often the ones you see eating at Mcdonalds. Also, the majority of our so called poor in this country have cable tv, can afford to smoke and drink. Smoking a pack a day is about $100 a month. Would that not cover their rising gas prices?

The DOD is not going to run out of money any time soon and the troops will not be left without the tools they need (certainly not the tools they need to come home). Of course that is not what we will be hearing for the next month and half or so. Gates will probably find some civilians to lay off to make a point, and there will be words tossed around about the irresponsible Democrats and the pain that the Pentagon is feeling. It will all be an act to create public pressure for the Dems to cave.

1. The US has been into this 'war' in Iraq for almost 5 years now. If the our federal government feels that there is reason to continue it, then it should be a budgeted item. There is absolutely no reason that monies should be appropriated outside of the normal budget cycle. If our glorious leader has a vision of victory he should be able to project that into a plan of action and budget it accordingly. After more than 4 years, they cannot say that these are unanticipated expenses.

2. Not providing this funding is a step towards forwarding my (and a majority of Iraqi and Americans) vision which is to simply let the Iraqis have Iraq. It is not a matter of victory or defeat as GW et al would have us believe. Although he doesn't say it, victory for GW is to claim Iraq's oil wealth and use Iraq as a base to claim more. But that really isn't victory as neither Iraqis or Americans (in general) gain from that. (cont next post)

2.8 trillion dollars for the Fed gov. they spend 419.3 Billion that leaves 2,380,700,000,000,,,,,, I know I went to the Jethro Bodine Skool of math but it seems there is still a bunch of money left after the DOD gets their share of it,,,,, but hey apples and oranges are expensive these days

Does that include the civilian contractors and the construction of the bases in Iraq?

I disagree about Iraq supporting terrorism. Compared to whom? Saudi Arabia attacked us on 9/11. That is an unequivocal fact. They supplied the hijackers, the training, and the funding and continue to be the biggest financiers of Islamic extremism and terrorism around the world. Saddam Hussein made postmortem payments to survivors of Palestinian suicide bombers in Israel but compared to other nations, his contributions to terrorism in were small. He was more interested in promoting his own agenda than one which was not of his own making. Al Qaeda was not founded by Saddam Hussein and he would not have been subservient to even sympathetic with their agenda. He was a Pan Arabist and fancied himself to be the reincarnation of the Assyrian King Nebuchadnezzar. His was a secular vision of Arab nationalism, however.

Did you know that as percentage of its GDP, the United States spends 4.06% on military? That's 4 %,,,,, doing exactly what the government is supposed to do,,,, protect us,,,, yes you have the right to say they aren't that's an old argument,,,, what I'm refering to is the government spend 96% of the funds on 'other' things that aren't put forth in the Constitution,,,, I'm not saying anything of whether it's a good or bad thing,,,, just letting you know

If you feel so strongly about this. get off the internet and go over yourself and you and your far righties can pay for it yourselves. don't ask us to pay for it!!

Meanwhile, bring the other troops home so they their families, and the rest of the US doesn't suffer anymore.

If you feel so strongly about this. get off the internet and go over yourself and you and your far righties can pay for it yourselves. don't ask us to pay for it!!

"Republicans talk about small government but can't deliver it. What they can deliver is big government that is ineffective, crony driven, incompetent, wasteful and in service to the private sector at the expense of the public welfare."

With comedy like this, you could single handedly replace the writers who are on strike. Let me correct that staement for you.

What demorats can deliver is big government that is ineffective, crony driven, incompetent, wasteful and in service to the private sector at the expense of the public welfare.

As for how fuel prices effect people, they do. Which reminds me, do you pay for all of that fuel or is it business related? I would think it must be because no normal person drives 150,000 miles in a year. That or you just lie to inflate your case. People that work a low wage job and have to drive to get to it will be affected.

As for what you do or do not do I'm sure none of these less fortunate people care about how often you have to eat at home.

My opinion is that you are a snotty condescending little penis eater that should be removed from society.

If you don't like that, then don't talk down to people suck-butt.

If you are thinking this is a national defence problem then you are sadly mistaken, just as George Bush was when he invaded Iraq and set off this chain of events.

The rationale for this continued war is that we need a "Victory". There is none to be had. We are not at war with the Iraqi people. They are at war with each other. So what will constitute "Victory"?

I would like you to tell me exactly what "Victory" is. What will it take for you to say it's time to bring our people home?

And, yes, I will remember the gutless wonders in November, I'll remember George W. never served a day in Viet-Nam while my buddies died in that s**thole. Yes I do know what a gutless wonder is.

As for health care, we already had this debate too. What it boils down too is that a thrid of the people who currently don't have insurance can afford it, they just don't seem to want it. The rest of the people are currently covered under the current social programs.

I drive 150,000 miles a year. If gas prices don't really affect me, why should they affect anyone else? Yeah, when prices go up, I'll eat dinner at home instead of going out.

Maybe the dems should take note of the fact that Americans do better when we are allowed to manage their own wealth. Maybe you guys should stay the hell out of our pockets for a few years and see how well we can do.

As for their using our troops as pawns in their sick game, it's disgusting. We need to finish what we started.

It strikes me as odd that proponents of this war down play its dangers or its costs but at the same time ask that we, the tax payers, continue to offer a blank check for its continuance on the theory that all hell will break lose if we leave. If the world's more powerful military is running this operation so close to a margin of failure, I think this would tend to belie the assertion that this war is small potatoes or the dangers minimal.

We should continue to press for victory now that the enemy is in decline and the security is improving, but, unfortunately, this wars execution was so badly bungled in the beginning, politically, its all but lost.

Even if you don't agree with the war, this is over the top to play this sort of game