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Post by lucyg on Jan 12, 2020 17:31:49 GMT
Trump being Trump you always have to dig deeper to find out what he's talking about. It's called Host Nation Support or burden sharing. The Pentagon spends an estimated $10 billion a year on overseas bases. More than 70% of the total is spent in Japan, Germany and South Korea, where most U.S. troops abroad are permanently stationed. In return, the Pentagon receives various forms of compensation from the host countries, from rent-free real estate where the bases are located to actual cash payments meant to offset U.S. costs. Hillary Clinton reached one of the least-noticed diplomatic agreements of her tenure as secretary of State — a deal obligating Japan to continue paying nearly $2 billion a year to help defray the cost of U.S. troops stationed on its territory. The money is used to build housing and training areas for U.S. forces, pay wages to thousands of Japanese workers on U.S bases and supply water and power. So Trump telling Saudi Arabia they need to pay up isn't unusual and certainly isn't 'pimping' our military. As to the why question, to help deter Iranian aggression in the Middle East. Why does he always have to sound as if he’s selling off the United States, one piece at a time? Foreign nations helping pay the costs of having our military on the ground is one thing. It’s not a business transaction. Trump bragging about refusing to send troops until they put more money “in the bank” is practically calculated to make half the country’s eyes bleed. And the other half seems to lap it up and enjoy the continued division. So far, he has done absolutely zero to change my opinion that he is a living, breathing monster.
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Post by papercrafteradvocate on Jan 12, 2020 18:35:56 GMT
Trump being Trump you always have to dig deeper to find out what he's talking about. It's called Host Nation Support or burden sharing. The Pentagon spends an estimated $10 billion a year on overseas bases. More than 70% of the total is spent in Japan, Germany and South Korea, where most U.S. troops abroad are permanently stationed. In return, the Pentagon receives various forms of compensation from the host countries, from rent-free real estate where the bases are located to actual cash payments meant to offset U.S. costs. Hillary Clinton reached one of the least-noticed diplomatic agreements of her tenure as secretary of State — a deal obligating Japan to continue paying nearly $2 billion a year to help defray the cost of U.S. troops stationed on its territory. The money is used to build housing and training areas for U.S. forces, pay wages to thousands of Japanese workers on U.S bases and supply water and power. So Trump telling Saudi Arabia they need to pay up isn't unusual and certainly isn't 'pimping' our military. As to the why question, to help deter Iranian aggression in the Middle East. Why does he always have to sound as if he’s selling off the United States, one piece at a time? Foreign nations helping pay the costs of having our military on the ground is one thing. It’s not a business transaction. Trump bragging about refusing to send troops until they put more money “in the bank” is practically calculated to make half the country’s eyes bleed. And the other half seems to lap it up and enjoy the continued division. So far, he has done absolutely zero to change my opinion that he is a living, breathing monster. Because he is. Trump is actively eroding every single “norm” and selling America off piece by piece. He told us he was going to do it too. He’s privatizing everything he can, all the while raising the debt at record speed, giving the wealthy tax breaks, taking away insurance, social security, Medicare.... He is going to bankrupt the USA, financially and morally. And before any conservatives/republicans say the economy is great—well the stock market is NOT the economy. Jobs are dwindling quickly, minimum wages have not been raised in many many years. trump created tariffs that Americans are 100% paying, and now he’s bailing farmers out because of his ducking idiocy, to the tune of 50-60 BILLION that guess who is paying?
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Deleted
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Jun 2, 2024 9:09:49 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2020 23:30:48 GMT
linkThis got even more weird... Remember in the first post trump said the money has been deposited? From Defense News - 9/20/2019“Facing Iran, Saudi Arabia still owes US $181 million for Yemen refueling”
From the article.. “WASHINGTON ― The Pentagon was set to outline new military options to President Donald Trump on Friday to respond to an attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil industry, but Riyadh still has an unpaid bill with the Pentagon for $181 million over assistance in Yemen. Despite the Trump administration’s emphasis on the U.S.-Saudi alliance in the wake of an attack that both sides attribute to Iran, Saudi Arabia has not repaid the Pentagon for its midair refueling assistance for its bombing runs over Yemen, nine months after the Pentagon announced it would seek to recoup its costs. Amid questions about whether it was the responsibility of the Saudis to defend themselves, Trump ― known for his perennial focus on burden-sharing in security arrangements ― told reporters on Monday that Saudi Arabia would play a large role. He emphasized that Riyadh has been a “great ally” for its investments in the U.S., saying: "Saudi Arabia pays cash.” Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday that as the U.S. builds a regional coalition to face Iran, America will not shoulder the costs by itself. “We’re also working on the cost of this whole endeavor, and Saudi Arabia has been very generous,” Trump said. The unpaid bill for refueling contrasts with those comments, and it is already inflaming U.S. lawmakers, many of whom are frustrated with Riyadh’s alleged involvement in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the Yemen war’s civilian toll. “Saudi failure to reimburse us for aircraft refueling — hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars — involves both deep insult and costly injury. It is entirely unacceptable that the Saudis have not reimbursed the Department of Defense for hundreds of millions in refueling costs," Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said in a statement. “The American taxpayer-funded U.S. Department of Defense is not the Saudi Royal Family’s piggy bank.” The article was from September 2019. Never mind the billion dollars trump claimed was “in the bank”. Was the money really deposited and what about the outstanding bill for refueling. And how about the money for the troops that were sent to SA in October? Paid?
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Deleted
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Jun 2, 2024 9:09:49 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2020 23:40:40 GMT
Susan Simpson..
”How is it possible that the President can announce we're using U.S. troops as mercenaries, and yet absolutely no further information is available on the details of this arrangement?”
“It's as if Congress and the media have collectively decided "he's probably just making this whole receiving-a-billion-dollars-from-Saudi-Arabia-in-exchange-for-U.S.-troops thing up, we don't need to worry about it," but like, I have questions.”
”Even odder: as of Oct 2019, when Trump announced Saudi Arabia would be paying for U.S. troops to be deployed there, KSA was already behind on its bills to the U.S. military, and owed $181M for fuel and refueling services.
Has KSA even paid for that yet?”
”Confirmed: Saudi Arabia's unpaid bills to the U.S. military for refueling costs have not been paid.
So what's this "billion dollars" Trump claims Saudi Arabia has paid?”
Glenn Kessler..
”Trump claimed that he's gotten $1 billion in the bank from the Saudis to pay for US troops. But the Pentagon just confirmed to me the Saudis still have not paid their outstanding bill for refueling costs in the Yemen war. So let's label Trump's statement as highly doubtful.”
“It was Saudi Arabia that asked the U.S. for these additional deployments, and Trump agreed, claiming it was because "Saudi Arabia pays cash." But for over a year now, Trump has refused to address the fact that KSA was stiffing the U.S. on a $181M bill, with his apparent blessing.”
“That KSA was failing to pay the U.S. for agreed-upon refueling services did not come out until March 2018, when several Democratic senators raised it in a letter to Mattis.
Only then did DOD acknowledge that due to "errors in accounting," it had failed to collect from KSA.”
“And yet, for nearly two years now, President Trump – who almost never makes it through a rally without incoherent complaints about NATO members "not paying" – has been completely chill about KSA being a couple hundred million behind on bills owed directly to the United States.”
“I'm starting to wonder if Trump's lies about deploying U.S. troops based on who can pay are intended to disguise and distract from the fact that, in reality, it is Trump who is paying Saudi Arabia hundreds of millions of U.S. tax dollars, for unclear reasons.”
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