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U.S. money is Taliban's No. 2 revenue source
CBS News ^ | David Martin

Posted on 09/02/2011 10:02:03 AM PDT by george76

It's no secret that war is expensive, but a report out Wednesday says the U.S. has wasted billions in Iraq and Afghanistan. More tax dollars will go down the drain unless the government makes big changes... Today, a blue ribbon commission put a number on how much has been lost not to violence but to mismanagement and corruption.

Commission on Wartime Contracting Chairman Christopher Shays says: "We are wasting between $30 and $60 billion during the course of our engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Shays says $30 billion in waste can be documented; Everything from leasing four-wheel vehicles at "grossly exorbitant rates" of about $40,000 a year, to a $124 million prison renovation that was never finished. The larger $60 billion figure includes an estimate of how much money lined the pockets of corrupt officials and even the enemy.

The commission was told that except for the opium harvest, U.S. contracts were the Taliban's biggest source of funds. A separate investigation estimated $360 million has ended up in the hands of the taliban..

(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: afghanistan; corruption; dnc4alqaeda; dnc4taliban; iraq; mismanagement; obama4alqaeda; obama4taliban; taliban

1 posted on 09/02/2011 10:02:06 AM PDT by george76
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To: george76

nice./sarc


2 posted on 09/02/2011 10:03:50 AM PDT by television is just wrong
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To: george76

Since Obama and good Democrats have been in charge since Jan. 2009, doesn’t this become their fault?

Even if the liberals want to say that these bad things started happening while Bush was president, what does it say about the leadership of this president that he has not fixed this glaring problem???????

And on any issue for which we hear that Bush was to blame, Obama inherited problems, etc., a good question would be: What exactly has the Obama administration and the Democrats in Congress done to fix all of these alleged problems??????


3 posted on 09/02/2011 10:08:57 AM PDT by Dilbert San Diego
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To: television is just wrong
The Taliban and its associates sell 90% of the world's consumed heroin. Guess who's buying that?

End that funding source and the "war" is over and we won't need to be robbed of our "nation building" dollars.

4 posted on 09/02/2011 10:09:26 AM PDT by gandalftb (11th MEU TRAP force)
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To: television is just wrong

BTW, the Afghanis have a Pakhtun phrase for American forces that roughly translates to “walking ATM”.


5 posted on 09/02/2011 10:11:21 AM PDT by gandalftb (11th MEU TRAP force)
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To: gandalftb

You aren’t going to chance any of this. Oh yea, you can but nobody wants to make it happen & it ain’t at a ballot box - it’s an ammo box.


6 posted on 09/02/2011 10:20:18 AM PDT by Digger (T)
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To: george76
It's no secret that war is expensive, but a report out Wednesday says the U.S. has wasted billions in ........ LYBIA.

Oboma is funding and supporting the very people that forced us into Iraq and Afghanistan in the first place! He's aiding the muslim brotherhood who was responsible for attacking us on 9/11!!

7 posted on 09/02/2011 10:21:28 AM PDT by concerned about politics ("Get thee behind me, Liberal")
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To: george76

Simple and obvious question. Why isn’t the Taliban[Afghanistan] on the terrorist list.


8 posted on 09/02/2011 10:21:45 AM PDT by Palter (Celebrate diversity .22, .223, .25, 9mm, .32 .357, 10mm, .44, .45, .500)
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To: george76
...now we're getting somewhere, actually , more to the point, war is profitable, that's the real reason conflicts escalate.

Take away the mark up and all you have is a few rabble raisers fistacating each other.

9 posted on 09/02/2011 10:22:17 AM PDT by de.rm ('Most people never believe anything you tell them unless it isn't true."-Groucho Marx)
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To: Nachum; holdonnow; Hannity; rush; HonestConservative; kristinn

ping


10 posted on 09/02/2011 10:23:07 AM PDT by AliVeritas (Pray. For all the latest, check out: http://directorblue.blogspot.com/)
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To: george76
The Taliban used to burn opium fields and execute heroin traffickers. They turned to the drug trade to finance the insurgency. They're violently opposed to drugs, but see trafficking as the lesser of two evils.

So, we're actually fueling the 1st and the 2nd biggest sources of income for the Taliban.

11 posted on 09/02/2011 10:24:56 AM PDT by Steel Wolf ("Few men desire liberty; most men wish only for a just master." - Gaius Sallustius Crispus)
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To: george76

The filthy commie Rats, had the house since the 06 Midterms and NOTHING is said,we need to have Adult US citizens defending out Point in this not communist Lackeys!


12 posted on 09/02/2011 10:28:35 AM PDT by Cheetahcat (Carnival commie side show, started November 4 2008 ,A date that will live in Infamy.)
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To: george76

The solution to this is so simple.

1. Salt the poppy fields with a nice BASF product called “Sahara DG.” Lay down a nice, heavy application rate guaranteed to result in bare ground for at least five years.

2. Leave. Just pack up and leave.

Problem solved.


13 posted on 09/02/2011 10:41:13 AM PDT by NVDave
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To: Digger
The Taliban believes Obama that we are leaving. The Taliban has decided to stay. That won't change either.

If we can't fight the war with a winning strategy, we need to pull out.

Ammo boxes are about tactics, body counts are about strategy.

14 posted on 09/02/2011 10:58:18 AM PDT by gandalftb (11th MEU TRAP force)
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To: NVDave

You’re way too nice. I said that we should equip drones with spraying equipment and spray persistent nerve agent over all of Afghanistan for the next five years to make sure that nothing can live there. But that’s just me, and I wrote that when I wasn’t mad about losing so many good young people who are trying to help the dumbass Afghans.


15 posted on 09/02/2011 11:00:48 AM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; ColdOne; Convert from ECUSA; ...

thanks george76.

Chris Shays on Sarah Palin: “She’s Awesome”
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3D6PHiKgeaGAg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Shays


16 posted on 09/02/2011 5:01:41 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (It's never a bad time to FReep this link -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: george76

Ron Paul is just crazy on foreign policy... /sarcasm


17 posted on 09/24/2011 7:11:38 PM PDT by traviskicks (http://www.neoperspectives.com/Ron_Paul_2008.htm)
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