Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases

U.S. News & World Report
By Desmond Butler (Associated Press)
May 4, 2012

The National Academy of Sciences is casting more doubt on whether the Obama administration’s European-based missile defense shield can protect the United States and recommends scrapping key parts of the system.

The academy’s assessment could complicate White House efforts to persuade Congress to fund the still-developing program. Though the academy says the plans would protect Europe effectively, some lawmakers already are asking why the U.S., at a time of tight budgets, should spend billions of dollars on a system that provides limited homeland defense.

The conclusions from the academy, which advises the government on science and technology, are contained in a letter to lawmakers obtained by The Associated Press.

The academy’s letter bolsters two earlier reports by Defense Department advisers and congressional investigators that said the European system faced significant delays, cost overruns and technology problems. …

Read on: www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2012/05/04/more-doubts-cast-on-european-missile-defense-plan

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Defenseworld.net

The Missile Defense Agency is announcing the award of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) Development and Sustainment Contract (DSC) to The Boeing Co., Missile Defense Systems, Huntsville, Ala.

The total value of this contract is $3,480,000,000. This contract was competitively awarded following the receipt of two proposals.

The scope of work under this contract includes, but is not limited to: future development; fielding; test; systems engineering, integration and configuration management; equipment manufacturing and refurbishment; training; and operations and sustainment support for the GMD Weapon System and associated support facilities.

Work will be performed at multiple locations, including: Huntsville, Ala.; Fort Greely, Alaska; Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.; Schriever Air Force Base, Peterson Air Force Base, Cheyenne Mountain Air Station, and Colorado Springs, Colo.; Tucson, Ariz.; other government designated sites and other contractor designated prime, subcontractor, and supplier operating locations.

The Boeing Company and industry partner Northrop Grumman Corporation have received the development and sustainment contract (DSC) from the U.S. Missile Defense Agency for future work on the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) element of the United States’ ballistic missile defense system. …

Read on: www.defenseworld.net/go/defensenews.jsp?id=6418&h=Boeing%20Wins%203.8Bn%20Contract%20for%20GMD%20from%20MDA

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Reuters
December 31, 2011

Boeing Co beat out Lockheed Martin to retain its position as the prime contractor for the U.S. long-range missile shield, the Pentagon said on Friday.

The U.S. Defense Department said it was awarding Boeing a $3.48 billion, seven-year contract to develop, test, engineer and manufacture missile defense systems. …

The shield has been shaped initially to guard against ballistic missiles that could be fired by Iran and North Korea. It is the only U.S. defense against long-range missiles that could be tipped with chemical, biological or nuclear warheads.

Read in full: www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/31/us-boeing-missiledefense-idUSTRE7BT19T20111231

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ABC News Blog
By Luis Martinez
August 22, 2011

The cost of U.S. military intervention in Libya has cost American taxpayers an estimated $896 million through July 31, the Pentagon said today.

The price tag includes the amounts for daily military operations, munitions used in the operation and humanitarian assistance for the Libyan people.

The U.S. has also promised $25 million in non-lethal aid to the Libyan Transitional National Council, half of which the Defense Department has already on MRE’s (military lingo for Meals, Ready to Eat).

The military delivered 120,000 Halal MRE’s to Benghazi in May and a second shipment that included medical supplies, boots, tents, uniforms, and personal protective gear in June.

While Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi appears on the way out, NATO says flight missions over Tripoli will continue, with the U.S. playing a role in helping to keep a tight window over the area that’s been in effect for weeks.

Over the past 12 days, U.S. planes have flown 391 sorties for a total of 5,316 since April 1, according to figures provided by the Defense Department. That total includes 1,210 airstrike missions over the same three and a half month period. The U.S. has also conducted 101 Predator drone strike missions in Libya. …

Read on: http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2011/08/us-military-intervention-in-libya-cost-at-least-896-million-.html

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Washington Post
July 8, 2011

Money for the Pentagon and the nation’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is proving largely immune from the budget-cutting that’s slamming other government agencies in the rush to bring down the deficit.

On a 336-87 vote Friday, the Republican-controlled House overwhelmingly backed a $649 billion defense spending bill that boosts the Defense Department budget by $17 billion. The strong bipartisan embrace of the measure came as White House and congressional negotiators face an Aug. 2 deadline on agreeing to trillions of dollars in federal spending cuts and raising the borrowing limit so the U.S. does not default on debt payments.

While House Republican leaders agreed to slash billions from the proposed budgets for other agencies, hitting food aid for low-income women, health research, energy efficiency and much more, the military budget is the only one that would see a double-digit increase in its account beginning Oct. 1

Concerns about undermining national security, cutting military dollars at a time of war and losing defense jobs back home trumped fiscal discipline in the House. Only 12 Republicans and 75 Democrats opposed the overall bill. …

Read on: www.washingtonpost.com/politics/house-pushes-to-finish-649b-defense-bill-sends-mixed-message-on-libya/2011/07/08/gIQAE0KJ3H_story.html

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CommonDreams.org
by Lisa Savage

Mayors from around the world met in Baltimore this week to set public policy for the billions of people living in big cities, depending on municipal services to stay safe. While Congress considered allocating another $118 billion to conduct wars next year – and President Obama absurdly maintained that the costly bombing of Libya is not an act of war, and thus not subject to Congressional oversight – mayors listened to the people.

Following a lively debate about adding stronger language supporting troops and their families, and adding President Obama as a recipient, mayors voted in their June 20 plenary session to call on the federal government to stop funding wars, and bring the money home. …

Immense profits by weapons manufacturers – and the jobs that depend upon war funding – are compelling reasons for wars with vague goals and shifting targets to continue indefinitely. Corporations spend millions lobbying Congress while contriving to pay no income taxes. Many citizens are questioning who the federal government really represents.

President Obama said while campaigning that he was not against all wars, just stupid wars. Bankrupting the country to maintain 800+ military bases abroad, and drop bombs costing $1 million apiece – the equivalent of 25 teachers’ annual salaries – could be the definition of stupid in the 21st Century. Fellow Democrat Rep. John Garamedi of California warned this week, “If the president doesn’t move…he will face a revolution in Congress…It’s coming to that.”

If the President has forgotten that Afghanistan is called “the graveyard of empires,” the people have not. Their mayors now join the chorus calling on the federal government to end endless wars, and bring the war dollars home.

Lisa Savage is CODEPINK’s Local Coordinator for Maine, and an active organizer with the Bring Our War $$ Home campaign. For more information www.wardollarshome.org.

Read in full: www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/06/20-7

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AFP
By Shaun Tandon
June 18, 2011

US senators said that they have taken a major step to halt a controversial military base plan on Japan’s Okinawa island and called on the Pentagon to make a fresh assessment.

Just days before top officials from the two nations meet for talks, the Senate Armed Services Committee agreed to bar any funds to move troops from Japan to Guam and ordered a new study on Okinawa’s flashpoint Futenma base.

The language was part of an annual defense funding act approved Thursday. It needs approval from the full Senate and House of Representatives, but senators involved said that their actions on Asian bases enjoyed broad support.

Senator Carl Levin, a member of President Barack Obama’s Democratic Party who heads the committee, said that the base plan in Japan increasingly appeared unfeasible and that the United States needed to control costs. …

Read on: www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=6854537

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CBS News
By David S. Morgan
June 10, 2011

In a speech in Brussels, outgoing U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that America’s military alliance with Europe faces a “dim, if not dismal” future, owing to what he characterized as the United States’ disproportionate funding of NATO operations, and of allies “willing and eager for American taxpayers to assume the growing security burden left by reductions in European defense budgets.”

In decrying the inability of all NATO members to contribute to operations, such as enforcing the no-fly zone over Libya, Gates said, “Frankly, many of those allies sitting on the sidelines do so not because they do not want to participate, but simply because they can’t. The military capabilities simply aren’t there.” …

The United States contributes between one-fifth and one-quarter of NATO’s budget. In FY2010 that contribution totaled $711.8 million.

But that factors in only direct payments, not deployments of personnel which – outside of special operations, such as in Afghanistan or Libya – may be used to train European forces (for example, in anti-terrorism skills) that benefit U.S. security. …

www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/06/10/501364/main20070541.shtml

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The Seattle Times
June 1, 2011

Congress must point the way toward getting the United States out of a war in Afghanistan it cannot afford or define. Members of the Washington delegation are well positioned to hold President Obama accountable for a timely exit.

WASHINGTON’S well-placed, influential congressional delegation must help move the United States toward the exit in Afghanistan. Sooner than later.

Sen. Patty Murray, Reps. Norm Dicks, Adam Smith and Rick Larsen, among others, have key committee and party roles that should be invoked to speed an end to a war the U.S. flatly cannot afford, and can no longer define.

Even Afghan President Hamid Karzai has lost any reticence about bluntly criticizing NATO and American forces for airstrikes killing civilians. For Karzai, the allies are evolving into occupiers. He recently lamented his nation simultaneously suffering from terrorists and a war on terrorism.

U.S. budget numbers supporting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are simply stunning. By the end of fiscal year, the total for both conflicts will be $1.26 trillion — $797.3 billion in Iraq and $459.8 billion in Afghanistan, according to published accounts.

Giddy, brazen Republican deficit hawks somehow manage to avert their eyes from the cost of war, including the Afghan conflict running at $10 billion a month.

The Pentagon has spent $28 billion to build a national army in Afghanistan and wants $12 billion more. It would cost upward of $8 billion a year to maintain, The Washington Post reports. The nation’s annual budget is $1.5 billion. …

Read more: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorials/2015208432_edit02afghan.html

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Fox News
March 23, 2011

The cost of the American and European assault on Libya already easily tops hundreds of millions of dollars, and has the potential to rise significantly if the operation drags on for weeks or months.

Coalition efforts to undermine Muammar al-Qaddafi’s air defenses and save the rebels from defeat have lasted for four nights already. If the U.S. role continues to be limited, with the Pentagon using its existing budget to cover the expense, the price tag on involvement will only rise moderately.

As of Tuesday, a U.S. defense official told Fox News the U.S. has fired 161 Tomahawk cruise missiles into Libyan territory, with 24 missiles being fired overnight Monday into Tuesday. Each missile is priced at $1 million to $1.5 million apiece and dispatched B-2 stealth bombers — round-trip from Missouri — to drop 2,000-pound bombs on Libyan sites.

Read on: www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/03/23/role-libya-costs-hundreds-millions/

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