The MOAB Attack on ISIS Was a Beautiful Bargain

Deroy Murdock:

Once again, the Trumpophobic Left has proved that it will not give President Donald J. Trump credit for anything, not even erasing Islamofascist killers who are the sworn enemies of every American — even those who despise Trump.

Acting on what President Trump called his “total authorization,” the United States armed forces on Thursday dropped a GBU 43/B device onto a maze of tunnels and bunkers occupied by ISIS terrorists in eastern Afghanistan’s Nangahar Province. This Massive Ordnance Air Blast weapon affectionately is nicknamed the Mother of All Bombs (MOAB). America’s most powerful non-atomic armament blasted these catacombs of hate with the equivalent of eleven tons of TNT.

The delightful result: destruction of this terror facility, along with at least 36 ISIS murderers, who were blown to bits, crushed beneath the cascading rubble, or otherwise liquidated. President Trump called this raid “very, very successful.”

(Afghan officials said Sunday that the MOAB killed at least 94 ISIS members. Regardless, unless otherwise indicated, this opinion piece reflects the earlier, more conservative death toll.)

While Americans widely applauded this development, President Trump’s foes lined up to denounce this great news — and on the unlikeliest grounds: It cost too much.

These liberals didn’t utter a peep as Obama exploded America’s national debt from $10.62 trillion to $19.95 trillion — an 87.85 percent boom. Suddenly, as Business Insider observed, they had a collective spasm of fiscal conservatism and excoriated Trump via social media for what they consider the Mother of All Expenditures.

• “The ‘mother of all bombs’ dropped today in Afghanistan cost the US taxpayer $314 million,” James Melville moaned via Twitter. “And yet America can’t afford meals on wheels.”

• “Not 1 person in gov’t, can tell me this country doesn’t have enough money to fund social programs or water,” Tika Sumpter complained. “We just dropped 314 million.”

• “Useful context,” cracked Ian Millhiser. “Also, still a sh** load of money to spend on a mass killing authorized by a game show host.”

These and several comments got repeated across social media. This ignited news stories and additional comments, and — as happens too often these days — a manufactured controversy soon raged.

These liberal whiners totally miscalculated the cost of the MOAB that America lobbed at these bloodthirsty, anti-Semitic, homophobic, sadistic, homicidal ISIS scum. The price tag is not $314 million. Initial reports placed the price at $314 million for 20 MOABs, or about $16 million each. The Air Force announced on Friday, however, that each MOAB costs just $170,000.

Oops!

So, for $170,000, President Trump vaporized no fewer than 36 ISIS murderers. That equals $4,722 per dead ISIS terrorist. By any measure, that is a bargain.

Given that any one of these ISIS butchers could drive a truck bomb into a U.S. military base in Afghanistan, level the American embassy in Pakistan, or fly to Mexico, run across the southern “border,” and detonate a bus full of American schoolchildren, these taxpayer dollars were spent beautifully.

If the early reports of each MOAB costing $16 million had remained accurate, it would have cost $445,000 per dead ISIS murderer. Since this price was too high for President Trump’s relentless critics, one wonders what figure would have satisfied them. $200,000? $100,000? $4,722?

For $170,000, President Trump vaporized no fewer than 36 ISIS murderers.

Rather than focus on the cost per neutralized terrorist, consider the price for each person whom this action kept alive and well. If each of those ISIS killers would have murdered just one man, woman, or child, it would have made sense to spend $445,000 to keep each potential ISIS victim breathing and happy. Of course, the more people these dead ISIS killers would have snuffed out, the lower the outlay per individual shielded from the fatal effects of militant Islam. Only the most hidebound pacifist could complain about $4,722 to extinguish a homicidal ISIS maniac.

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