If at first you do succeed...

...don't let that stop you from coming back for more.

Reuters, May 13 - The Senate Armed Services Committee has recommended a further $50 billion be set aside to fund U.S. military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and the U.S.-declared global war on terrorism.

The proposed new war spending for fiscal 2006, which starts Oct. 1, would push the cost of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and its aftermath toward $250 billion, far ahead of initial expectations voiced by the Bush administration.

The recommendation comes just three days after Congress forked over $82 billion for the wars, of which $76 billion was for combat operations. It's part of the DOD authorization bill which allows for $441.6 billion in military spending for FY 2006. That's a 3.1% real increase over the current year.

Sometime in the near future I'm going to have to give vent to my increasing anger over the fact that we're repeatedly told we "can't afford" this or that domestic program, that health care for all, for example, is "too expensive" and Medicare and Medicaid are "out of control," that the paltry, embarrassing amount the US provides for international humanitarian aid is "very generous" - while the Pentagon continues to be bloated with favoritism and oozing with cronyism and cost overruns that would be held up as a national scandal if it was for anything other than improving our killing machines. Because this is just too much for me:

The additional $50 billion for war spending had bipartisan support on the committee.

"I am particularly pleased that the bill will authorize $50 billion to support the day-to-day military operations of our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq," Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, the panel's top Democrat, said in a statement.

Pleased? Pleased? He's pleased to have endorsed another $50 billion death warrant? Because that's what this is: It's a death warrant for more American GIs, more civilian contractors, and many times that many more Iraqis. It is a disgrace and Levin should be ashamed, not pleased. And it's a further disgrace that he won't be and neither will any of the other fools and toadies who will vote for this.