Since our government has become a monstrous beaurocracy, I don't suppose I should be suprised to find that the important parts of foreign policy fall through the cracks.

     87 billion dollars.     87,000,000,000 dollars     Eighty-Seven Billion Dollars     The latest addition to the War on Terror "budget" is (in case you didn't get it) 87 billion dollars. So what does it do? How does this money save America from the "terrorists"? Let's look at this situation.     First, we decided that Osama's in Afghanistan and went to go root him out of the hole he's hiding in. After it became clear that this task would turn into a difficult if not impossible one, and everyone started to question the reason for all the liberty robbing stealth legislation speeding through congress, we decided that it would be a good idea to get at some other terror threats, and who better than America's favorite punching bag, Saddam Hussein.?     You remember Saddam. He's the one we've been bombing the hell out of since 1990. The one that kills his own people, tortures those with different beliefs or opinions, etc. Great press. So we rally the troops and go into Iraq with full-blown 3-D reporting complete with babbling broadcasters and melodramatic monologues. Suddenly the war on terror is on again! A few trips by the Ministry of Peace (aka the Homeland Security Office) into the "orange" zone, and we're back up to speed. Saddam is routed in short order and America is working to establish a government in Iraq that in some way resembles sanity. Great. Wonderful. The world is a better place. What could be wrong?     You mean what besides a historically high deficit? An insurmountable debt that will have all sorts of bad influences on our eternally failing economy? Don't let the "experts" fool you with vague talk about "indicators". They aren't the only ones that know how to add big numbers. The primary  "indicator" that the "experts" use to identify economic trends is the FED's printing press. Need more money? Print more! MORE! Everybody then has money and the world is great. For a while, until everyone in the world realizes that George Washington has been cloned so many times he's not so important anymore and other countries decide that they won't pay as much for his pristine picture. The media has become the 21st century version of a classic con: the fortune teller. And if you listen to it, shame on you.     But I digress. But digression is OK. After all, our government did it, and now Afghanistan (remember them?) is starting to feel like a red-headed step child. They try to ask the President about the War on Terror, but he's too busy beating up Saddam. At least Iraq had a government. While Bush is basking in battle, crime, corruption, and the Taliban (you do remember them, don't you?) are all on the increase in Afghanistan.     Back to that 87 billion bucks. Most of it is to send troops and supplies to Iraq, and to build infrastructure in Iraq. That's a lot of greenbacks, but hey, we broke a lot of stuff.     So where is Afghanistan now while Iraq occupies the entire front page? Buried on page 24A of this week's Sunday paper. No demand, no supply. Sorry Afghanistan, its all economics.