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FCNL staff musings from the corner of 2nd & C Streets in Washington, DC. 
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War Funding Request Denotes 68,000 Troops Through Late 2013

By Matt Southworth on 02/21/2012 @ 11:50 PM

Tags: Afghanistan, War Is Not the Answer

It’s no secret that war is expensive. The U.S. has spent over $1,400,000,000,000 ($1.4 trillion) in Afghanistan and Iraq since 2001. This figure represents operational costs, not long term costs such as veteran care, which will rise for decades to come. However, looking at the fiscal year 2013 war funding request, you might think war is getting less expensive. Not quite. Funding overall is on the decline, yes, but the war in Afghanistan still costs $1 million per soldier, per year.

Overall, war funding is on the decline because of troop withdrawals from Iraq. Afghanistan war funding is also down due to troop withdrawals. The Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 funding request for Afghanistan is $88.5 billion, approximately $26 billion less than what was appropriated in FY 2012. But there is a hitch: the FY13 request assumes that 68,000 U.S. troops will remain in Afghanistan through September 2013, when the fiscal year ends.

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Of Peace and Politics Blog Header







On life and work in Washington, DC – by FCNL's interns. 
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Bush Admin. Official Speaks Out Against War With Iran

By Hilary Johnson on 02/21/2012 @ 02:18 PM

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Semper Fidelis: Always Faithful

Posted on 02/10/2012 @ 04:44 PM

Tags: Energy, Environment

Semper Fidelis-often shortened to Semper Fi-is a Latin phrase meaning "always faithful." It's most commonly known as the motto for the United States Marine Corps. The phrase has taken on a new meaning for me as details about the poisoning of Marines and Marine Corps families who lived at Camp Lejeune, the United States' largest Marine base, have come to light. For decades, the Marine Corps dumped toxic waste in Lejeune which leached into the groundwater, affecting as many as one million Marines and their families.

For me, this story is more than an abstraction. I was born at Lejeune in the 1980s. My father joined the Marines to help pay for college, and he served for four years as an officer before returning to Harvard to get a second (and eventually a third) degree. My dad was stationed in Lejeune in 1989, and I was born on July 4th of that year--a fitting start for a Quaker peace activist. When I first read about this story in The Washington Post, it hit me right in the gut. Is this me? Could I be sick? How could this happen?

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