Can this possibly be true? U.S. spends $20 billion a year on air conditioning in Iraq and

Afghanistan.

The amount the U.S. military spends annually on air conditioning in Iraq and Afghanistan: $20.2 billion.

That's more than NASA's budget. It's more than BP has paid so far for damage during the Gulf oil spill. It's what the G-8 has pledged to help foster new democracies in Egypt and Tunisia.

"When you consider the cost to deliver the fuel to some of the most isolated places in the world — escorting, command and control, medevac support — when you throw all that infrastructure in, we're talking over $20 billion," Steven Anderson tells weekends on All Things Considered guest host Rachel Martin. Anderson is a retired brigadier general who served as Gen. David Patreaus' chief logistician in Iraq.


<snip>

http://www.npr.org/2011/06/25/137414737/among-the-costs-of-war-20b-in-air-conditioning?ps=cprs

Insane.
Why does it cost so much?

Rich people are 20 billion dollars richer thanks to our administration and congress pissing away our tax revenue.

And our soldiers cannot be in 125 degree temperature. After all, their uniforms are not made for the desert.

the costs of war are so immense...

AC is powered by generators, almost everything in bases is powered by generators. There are generators all over that have to be refilled by gas.

troops to keep cool.

All the more reason to get the hell out.

I use a "swamp box" style cooler. It woorks pretty good, gets chilly at night. I turn it on at the beginning of June and leave it on 24/7 for three months. A lot cheaper than refrigeration. But sometimes I think about it...

We're paying Halliburton employees $85,000 per year to drive truckloads of diesel to the base camps, when we could have gotten Army privates to do that for a quarter the cost.

We're paying Halliburton employees $85,000 per year to put the diesel in generators and operate the machinery, when sergeants have always operated generators and environmental control equipment (this isn't the first war we've been in that required heated or air conditioned tents) as part of their duties.

We're paying other Halliburton employees $85,000 per year to maintain the generators and air conditioners, when every unit over there has a motor pool that contains Ol Sarge, the master mechanic, who'd keep those things humming for no more than we pay him already.

And we're probably paying Halliburton $40 per gallon for the fuel, even though you can go to any truck stop in Iraq and get it for a dollar a gallon, if that, and the Iraqi truck stop owners would welcome the business.

I would say, as a rough estimate, that at least $19 billion of that $20 billion can be attributed to GOP-sanctioned extortion by Dick Cheney's old company, and I would really love to know how much of that was kicked back to the White House.

What percentage just to bring fuel to this mess?

and down-size the military.

unfortunately, coming from NPR, right-wingers are just going to write it off as propaganda

Now how do we force the issue?

http://october2011.org/

I really want to go, but haven't committed yet

And I wholeheartedly support the action.

think of what decent, worthwhile, helpful programs we could fund with $20 billion

TENTS! How much does that cost?

But, no, I have no trouble believing we spend that much... NPR did a story on this and the cost of trying to transport fuel through Pakistan into Afghanistan. It was shocking what a gallon of gas or other fuel eventually costs us to supply this gargantuan military machine.