Al Qaeda's Failed War on the U.S. Economy

I don't understand how Al Qaeda could not be deemed successful with destroying the US economy. Al Quaeda prompted the Afghanistan and Iraqui wars, which is over a Trillion dollars now. On June 30, 2008, Congress has approved a total of about $864 billion for additional military operations. Congress provided $67 billion for foreign aid and diplomatic operations for Iraq and Afghanistan. As of July 31, 2008, the Department of Defense reported that $608.5 billion has been obligated for the Global War on Terror (GWOT) including

- $473.7 billion for Iraq,

- $106.9 billion for Operation Enduring Freedom, and

- $27.9 billion for Operation Noble Eagle (enhanced security).

Before the Iraqi war, the White House estimated the cost of the war at $100 to $200 billion. It's now over $800 billion. Upfront costs, which are mostly handled by emergency appropriations, are now running at $16 billion a month. The war is being funded by more borrowing. By the end of the Bush administration, the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, plus the cumulative interest on the increased borrowing will have added about $1 trillion to the national debt. I don't see how you can't say Al Qaeda is not successful with their mission with destroying the US economy.

Mike of CA 3:38PM February 02, 2009

Boy were you wrong!

of NY 1:58PM October 22, 2008

Our economy has grown by 1.7 trillion since 1991. Our debt has grown by 11 trillion; that's not the road to success, is it? Since when has free market capitalism included bailing out all financial institutions, our auto industry & absorbing pension plans from incompetent management?

We're "loaning" the auto industry 50 billion dollars to help them meet CAFE standards of 30 MPG by 2020. Half that by 2015. They say noway to 2015 & tsk, tsk 2020s goal will be ruff. Toyota announced they'd meet 2020 goal by 2015. Why not hire a few Toyota engineers & save ourselves

the 50 bil...or is that considered "bad form, ol bean".

wm jordan of AL 9:49AM September 21, 2008

First things first and for the record - I hate Al Qaeda - but with that out of the way ...

I'm sorry I'm the one that has to inform you James, but the US economy is already destroyed and overwhelmingly by yourselves, or at least the elites to which your system has delegated the task of its (mis)management. The rest of us outside the US are just waiting for the bell to sound so we can all get dragged into your coming greed induced currency meltdown and economic depression.

To boot in just about 70 years of your nation's global leadership you've alienated every non-western nation through your naive zeal for intervention and liberal applications of your military power. You've destroyed the moral superiority you still think you have a unique claim to. And for good measure you've done a good job of undermining any Western moral authority and strength that might have lingered on elsewhere.

Wake up, fella, the parties over. You can't even afford your military already - your enemies are funding that on your behalf. And the longer you cling to past grandiose ambitions the IOUs just get larger and larger.

Surely a great society would care more for their future generations than to squander such an incredible opportunity and legacy instead of blowing it all on self gratification and fixing the financial system to support continued unsustainable indebtedness.

I guess you get a more receptive audience for this stuff at home but this is the Internet - "Roll on" to another topic :)

Perhaps the real story about how your financial system, and maybe the world's, has been destroyed by US expertise and leadership......

GetRealMan 8:24AM September 14, 2008