If it's Thursday, it must be Tikrit . . .

I do know that while the world burns you don't go on vacation to play golf and do fundraisers

There you have it, folks! Hoops, solution to achieving world peace - Dont play golf !

Oh...nevermind.

82 (40%) of 209 Democratic Representatives voted for the resolution.
6 (<3%) of 223 Republican Representatives voted against the resolution: Reps. Duncan (R-TN), Hostettler (R-IN), Houghton (R-NY), Leach (R-IA), Morella (R-MD), Paul (R-TX).
The only Independent Representative voted against the resolution: Rep. Sanders (I-VT) Reps. Ortiz (D-TX), Roukema (R-NJ), and Stump (R-AZ) did not vote on the resolution.


United States Senate[edit]

Republican 48 1
Democratic 29 21
Independent 0 1
TOTALS 77 23
58% of Democratic senators (29 of 50) voted for the resolution.

Shall we try again????

You do only look at part of the picture, try looking at the whole thing...

Someday after America is hit on US soil in a big way by a Muslim terrorist group, we will turn some portion of the Middle East into glass. Until that happens, I now agree with PJ that this part of the World is not manageable by anyone.

It was a mistake to remove Sadaam Hussein.

PJ, one needs to look at troops levels before 9/11....
year Army AF Navy Marines Total
1990 732,403 535,233 579,417 196,652 2,043,705
1991 710,821 510,432 570,262 194,040 1,985,555
1992 610,450 470,315 541,886 184,529 1,807,177
1993 572,423 444,351 509,950 178,379 1,705,103
1994 541,343 426,327 468,662 174,158 1,610,490
1995 508,559 400,409 434,617 174,639 1,518,224
1996 491,103 389,001 416,735 174,883 1,471,722
1997 491,707 377,385 395,564 173,906 1,438,562
1998 483,880 367,470 382,338 173,142 1,406,830
1999 479,426 360,590 373,046 172,641 1,385,703
2000 482,170 355,654 373,193 173,321 1,384,338
2001 480,801 353,571 377,810 172,934 1,385,116
2002 486,542 368,251 385,051 173,733 1,413,577
2003 490,174 376,402 379,742 177,030 1,423,348
2004 494,112 369,523 370,445 177,207 1,411,287
2005 488,944 351,666 358,700 178,704 1,378,014
2006 (June) 496,362 352,620 353,496 178,923 1,381,401
2007 (Aug.) 519,471 337,312 338,671 184,574 1,380,082
2011 (Sept.) 565,463 333,370 325,123 201,157 1,468,364


Read more: Active Duty Military Personnel, 1940–2011 | Infoplease.com https://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0004598.html#ixzz34qpZjEhu

deaths...


since the revolutionary war

[DonDiego was lucky enough to capture alanleroy's response to pjstroh, before alanleroy deleted it, . . . presumedly upon realizing pjstroh wasn't really serious about discussing the matter in his response to hoops2.]

So:
1)Tours of Duty - depends on the situation, . . . but no more nation building. And when deployment is necessary (it will be occasionally) only with a specific military objective and only with more force than is necessary. Whomever the US is likely to attack already hates the US, so even if the use of excess force annoys them, so what? What do we have all these intercontinental weapons for anyway?

2)Taxpayer Dollars [for Overseas Forays] - Whatever is necessary to accomplish the specific objective. If it is deemed too expensive to accomplish the goal, do not deploy.

3)How to Pay - See answers to 1) and 2), above, and 5), below, for mitigating factors. No more debt; pay-as-you-go. Raise taxes if absolutely necessary; preferably decrease other Government expenditures first. Consider abolishment of several Cabinet Level departments, especially those invented after the end of the 19th Century.

4)How long - See answers to 1) and 2), above. Specific mission with defined objective; win or lose come home. (Preferably, with sufficient preparation wins will outnumber losses.) Exception: Whenever feasible identify and kill al Qaeda operatives and allies from a distance - drones, smart-bombs, bunker-busters, "Star Wars" lasers, . . . or close up assassination teams, poison, whatever works. They recognize no rules; the US should do likewise.

5)alanleroyII is correct, the protection of the Homeland will be the basis for any claim of Victory. DonDiego suggests Victory will be continued Constitutional Government and relatively comfortable standard-of-living in the United States for productive citizens, less comfortable for those willfully unproductive. [As the present crises expand, caring for the willfully unproductive is likely to become less economically sustainable and, therefore, less popular; DonDiego doesn't make the distinction to be "mean" to anyone, just realistic. This would also be a source of savings for necessary military operations.]
DonDiego suspects these definable Victory conditions to last significantly less than, say, a century, . . . as the present minority in the world who have other objectives - like irrational religious domination at any cost - is growing more rapidly than the rational population. Once they get nuclear weapons (5 years? A decade?) or even, say, an air transmissible Ebola Virus things'll change. [When DonDiego says "irrational religious domination" he is, in fact, referring to Islamists. He didn't want to offend anyone earlier, but over the ensuing 30 words he changed his mind. He realized that, f'rinstance, Bible-thumpers in the US have no intention of decapitating their fellow citizens.]
In, say 100 years, Victory might well be a secure valley in a temperate climate with adequate water for one and one's tribe.
[see note i below.]


Overall alanleroyII offered a good start.

__Protect the borders, not only from military incursion but also from arrival of less-productive uninvited immigrants. Increase immigration overall to permit greater numbers of skilled, productive individuals to become US citizens. [This can be done; all it takes is the Will.]

__Secure and Protect international oil supplies. [This can be done but will become more difficult over time; as the Mid-East heats up [if the reader thinks it is hot now, he is in for a surprise]. F'rinstance, the already overstated reserves of Saudi Arabia will become a primary [perhaps, THE primary] target of Islamist terrorists. Once the Saud Tribe is ousted, civil war and terrorist intervention is likely. [DonDiego supposes US military intervention, but cannot know the future details and, thus, the justification applicable.]
Actually, protection of other international resources required to sustain the US will also be necessary, but this goes beyond Mid-East policy considerations.

__ Protect/Develop national energy supplies. [Coal is essential to maintain living standards and is likely to become moreso as oil supplies are disrupted, in spite of US efforts. [DonDiego is not discounting "man-made global warming", although he opines it is less an immediate crisis than others do, but consideration of global warming will likely become a luxury too expensive to indulge.]

__DonDiego has no objection whatsoever to alanleroyII's proposal to facilitate export of natural gas to US allies; but he suspects it will ultimately turn out to be economically unsustainable.

Generally:

In other words, it is time to prioritize. The US cannot afford to do everything it wants to do. Wiser men than DonDiego, . . . and this is a large pool of folks, . . . had best determine what the Government's international and domestic priorities are and jettison those which are unaffordable. And soon.

DonDiego counsels active action against Islamist terrorists should have a high priority.

And at home Government interference in its citizens daily lives should be reduced not only because individuals know best what it is they themselves want but also to lower Government expenses; again, a matter of priorities. Free markets are the efficient way to allow supply and demand to provide what people want at reasonable prices.


note i to Victory Conditions: This is not as dire as the reader might think. The human race has existed, so far, for a tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny fraction of the life of the Universe; human civilization is a tiny, tiny, tiny fraction of that. The continued existence of human civilization is unlikely to exceed a few more millennia, if that. The reader should get some perspective on these matters. [DonDiego actually supposes his estimate of a "few millennia" is high, but he didn't want to dash anyone's hopes for their grandchildren.]
Oh, and by the way, . . . DonDiego supposes it is highly likely that once an intelligent industrialized worldwide society loses its civilization, it is unlikely to ever recover it. The easy-to-get natural resources will have been all used up, and the societal collapse will likely have destroyed the industrial means by which to extract/transport/process the not-so-easy-to-get natural resources. A species pr'bly only gets one chance to achieve a technological society.
The achievements documented by Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, not to mention Star Trek. were likely never possible in the first place, . . . but a fallen technological civilization won't get to find out.

PJ, do you have concerns that those Middle East folks why "manage themselves" will attempt to kill American's on home soil? Secondly, you seem to regularly ignore the best way to pay for military programs. Cut giveaway programs.

Remember when Biden said that Iraq was one of the great success stories of Obama. So now it can be considered one of the great failures.

Fresh off his 4 day vacation in California, Obama can now focus on the Middle East. But wait he will be in NYC today for yet another fundraiser, but there is always tomorrow.

“It [Iraq] could be one of the greatest achievements of this administration. . . . You’re going to see a stable government in Iraq that is actually moving toward a representative government.”
“I know every one of the major players in all the segments of that society. It’s impressed me. I’ve been impressed how they have been deciding to use the political process rather than guns to settle their differences.”
__Vice President Biden, 10 February 2010

Things change.