[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 176 (Tuesday, December 1, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H13359]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     IT'S ALL ABOUT MONEY AND POWER

  (Mr. DUNCAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, according to press reports, we are now going 
to send 34,000 more troops to Afghanistan, in addition to the 68,000 
already there. The Pentagon tells us it costs $1 million a year for 
each soldier there, or $1 billion for each 1,000. This means we will be 
spending over $100 billion a year on top of the almost half a trillion 
we've spent on the 8-year-old Afghanistan war already.
  I know that, like any gigantic bureaucracy, the Defense Department 
always wants more money and more employees, but this is getting 
ridiculous. And fiscal conservatives should be the ones most horrified 
by all this spending. On top of all this, we still have 120,000 troops 
in Iraq and are still spending megabillions there. And the Pentagon is 
so bureaucratic that we are told it will take several years to fully 
withdraw, if we ever do.
  President Eisenhower warned us about the military industrial complex, 
but I think even he would be shocked. This is all about money and 
power, but we can no longer afford to lose so many lives and spend and 
borrow so much money.

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