Michael Collins

That's your Sunday moment of Zen. We have sent troops to Jordan, specifically to the Jordan - Syria border.

The United States budget is in an state of disarray. The crazies and the sleepwalkers in Congress can't engage in rational analysis and planning, so we're forced into robo-budget cutting. Even without the histrionics of historic proportion, it is time to pay close attention to expenditures based on priorities for the vast majority of citizens. (Image)

The real unemployment rate is 23% when you count all those once employed who would work and those forced into part time employment. Our neglect of the environment and de facto stupidity has advanced climate change beyond the point of no return unless very prompt action is taken to correct the situation.

So what do those in power do? Send troops to Jordan.

"The Pentagon is sending about 200 troops to Jordan, the vanguard of a potential U.S. military force of 20,000 or more that could be deployed if the Obama administration decides to intervene in Syria to secure chemical weapons arsenals or to prevent the 2-year-old civil war from spilling into neighboring nations." LA Times, April 17

They'r'e teasing us with the initial number of 200 troops and tipping their hat to much larger figure of 20,000. That's troops, not support personnel, not contractors, not all the others it takes to support a combat force. The troops will be on the Jordan - Syria border. What better place to provoke an incident that will justify a rapid force increase, a naval presence, etc. etc.?

Why would we do that? Are we protecting Jordan from an invasion by hostile forces? Are there vital U.S. interests there? No on both accounts. The troops were dispatched as part of a global chess game with the final outcome uncertain and without a final outcome imaginable that benefits the people of the United States.

We know two things for sure about the need for troops in Jordan. They are not needed to protect against an imminent or conceivable threat of a military attack on the United States. The second thing we know is that we cannot afford this expenditure, not in our current state of financial disarray.

The administration and many in Congress want the current government of Syria shut down. We know how well that worked out when we insisted on that in Libya, now a veritable disaster zone. We know how well it worked out in Iraq, more than $3 trillion dollars later. We know how well 11 years in Afghanistan worked out. We have every reason to suspect that this initial commitment will become an excuse to draw the country into a violent civil war in behalf of the thug we want to replace the thugs in charge. It's a massive downside risk with no benefits, all cost and no gain.

So when they say we just don't have money for a real jobs program, ask them -- Where did you find the money to send troops to Jordan?

When they say we can't afford to clean up the atmosphere in order to keep our children from choking to death, ask them -- Where did you find the money to send troops to Jordan?

And when they say, we need a new way to calculate the consumer price index for Social Security (a way that cuts annual benefits), as them -- Where did you find the money to send troops to Jordan?

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The Agonist