How much do taxpayers spend on them?

There is an organization out there that competes with the Iranian regime for the clueless gold medal. Not clueless in the treatment of its citizens/democracy sense, but in its understanding of the world beyond its shores. It is called the U.S. government. Billions of dollars on intelligence later and they still “don’t know”:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/23/world/middleeast/23diplo.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all.