By fitsnews – July 28, 2010
By FITSNews || The U.S. House of Representatives appropriated $59 billion on Tuesday to continue fighting wars in Afghanistan and Iraq – money that will cover the deployment of 30,000 additional troops this year in Afghanistan as part of President Barack Obama’s “surge” strategy.
Congress has already spent $130 billion on the two conflicts this year – and over $1 trillion since 2001.
The measure was approved by a 308-114 vote – with 102 Democrats voting against the bill. In light of the explosive leak of thousands of classified war logs earlier this week, debate over the resolution was understandably testy.
“Congress cannot continue to write a blank check for a war in Afghanistan that has ultimately made our county less safe,” said Rep. Barbara Lee (D., California).
There are currently roughly 100,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan – nearly a three-fold increase from when Obama took office eighteen months ago. By contrast, American soldiers continue to pour out of Iraq – where U.S. troop strength is scheduled to fall below 50,000 for the first time since 2003. At the peak of Operation Iraqi Freedom, 170,000 American soldiers were fighting in Iraq.
As of this writing, 4413 American troops have been killed in Iraq while 1207 have been killed in Afghanistan.
