Military Spending
...s. The responsibility of assuring that research programs are responsive to military technology needs is essential to make sure our funds are not being wasted. The commander and his staff must base their decision on a sound evaluation. Once projects are under way, evaluations must continue. These methods have led to numerous breakthroughs in technology for the military. One of the new breakthroughs is in the field of body armor for our troops. Reinforced helmets and body armor are being fielded to the US military. The Marine Corps are now trying out helmets that help increase the fragmentation protection by 6%, and even the ability to stop 9-mm rounds. The new vest that has been introduced covers vital organs and can protect them from a 9mm submachine gun at point blank range. A new standard weapon is being looked for as well. The M-16 that has been the weapon of choice of our troops for years has been said to be too bulky to fit in the Humvees and because of its length it is hard to aim out of the vehicles quickly and accurately. The introduction of a more advanced design known as the Objective Individual Combat Weapon or OICW is expected to make its debut in the near future. Many soldiers say that Iraq is the last nail in the coffin for the M-16. In Iraq Humanitarian reconstruction is expected to cost around $320 million- $1.6 billion dollars. An old or new leader coming up from the works is a definite possibility, to deter this we have taken some initiative. The U.S. goes and keeps schools and other services for the people running to keep them satisfied and protected. After we go to war we end up spending tons money to help rebuild what we destroyed, it doesn’t seem to make sense but from a long-term scale it does. If the United States were to leave Iraq in shambles, wouldn’t that defeat the whole purpose of what we we're doing? We are supposedly over there to free the Iraqi people, and combat terrorism. The United States going in and destroying buildings and then not aiding in any reconstruction would most likely result in an influx in the amount of terrorism that our country has been dealing with, and make the Iraqi’s wonder if the cost of freedom is worth it. USAID assists Iraqis in reconstructing their country by working within the Coalition Provisional Authority. The CPA is the temporary body of government for Iraq until it is politically and socially strong enough to maintain sovereignty. The administrator of the CPA is Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III. The CPA is made up of many different nations encompassing every major religion and ethnic group. The CPA is not permanent and come June 30th it is set to simply dissipate and the transitional government at hand will then be recognized. This had been set forth in an agreement between the Iraqi Governing Council and the CPA back on November 15th of 2003. The USAID Mission in Iraq carries out programs in education, health care, food security, reconstruction, airport and seaport management, economic growth, community development, local governance, and transition initiatives. Rebuilding Iraq's electric grid, water supply and other infrastructure perhaps has been one of the largest or these humanitarian aid costs. The results of the war bring about another issue in which the government is obligated to spend money. Veterans who are injured need to be admitted at Veteran hospitals, these hospitals need a staff that must be paid and managed. The Department of Veteran affairs takes care of such matters. The war in Iraq has been extremely costly for the United States, but how does it measure to some of our wars in past history? In World War I we spent a total of $22.6 billion dollars by the end of it. When World War II rolled around the U.S. ended up spending $341 billion, including $50 billion of which was spent on lend lease supplies. The Korean War cost the government $263.9 billion. When Vietnam came around because of its length it was another pricey war. $346.7 billion dollars were spent before the conflict in Vietnam came to a halt. Moving into the 90’s the first war with Iraq commenced and we ended up spending 61.1 billion dollars. The actual battle costs on the other hand are expected to rea...