After Spending $1 Trillion On 'Base' Non-War Spending, Why Do We Have Nothing To Show For It? (A Commentary)

Operational Update
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates receives an operational update on the Ramadi area from U.S. Army Col. Lou Lartigue during a trip to Iraq, Sept.1, 2010. Gates is visiting Iraq to mark the end of U.S. combat operations in the country. DoD photo by U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Jerry Morrison

$1 TRILLION Bought Older, Smaller Forces; Fix it, Mr. Gates -- DoD Buzz

In 1998, the Pentagon budget was at a twenty-three year low at $361 billion (in constant 2010 dollars). For 2010, the DOD budget was $697 billion (also 2010 dollars, as are all the rest that follow).

According to the analysis of the Project on Defense Alternatives, between 1998 and 2010 Congress appropriated to the Pentagon $2.144 Trillion (with a “T”) more than was anticipated by the 1999 “baseline.” Of that amount, $1.113 Trillion was spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and $1.031 Trillion was added to “base” (non-war) Pentagon spending. (See p. 3 of PDA’s study, “An Undisciplined Defense: Understanding the $2 Trillion Surge in US Defense Spending.” I basically concur with PDA’s numbers, which are from DoD and OMB budget data as described on p. 61.)

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My Comment: The numbers and data do not lie .... and Winslow Wheeler, defense analyst at the Center for Defense Information .... kudos to him for compiling some startling and eye opening data. Read it all .... and (as an American taxpayer) start to cry.