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CounterPunch: A Tutorial on How to Find the Real Numbers (1/19/06) by Winslow T. Wheeler
Reporters who simply reiterate government representations of the new military appropriations bill's economic repercussions are enabling the deceit of their readers. A former employee of the Government Accountability Office lets the cat out of the bag:The impression made by the press releases and the news articles was that the $453 billion advertised in the bill, H.R. 2863, constitutes America's defense budget for 2006. That would be quite incorrect. In fact, the total amount to be spent for the Department of Defense in 2006 is $13 billion to $63 billion more, the latter figure assuming full funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. If you also count non-DOD "national defense" costs, add another $21 billion, and, if you count defense-related security costs, such as homeland security, the congressional press release numbers are more than $200 billion wrong.
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