Besides the lives lost, there is an enormous financial cost to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. As of today, the total cost of the wars since 2001 in Afghanistan and Iraq to the United States stands at about $1.1 trillion. This is a major contributor to the budget deficit and one place where we can and should begin cutting immediately. The proposed Afghanistan war spending for 2011 is $107 billion. This is $47 billion dollars more than the total of the draconian House Republican budget cuts in domestic programs.
The House Republican budget cuts would destroy 700,000 jobs. Exiting Afghanistan would not.
The House Republican budget would endanger our health and safety due to cuts in key environmental and safety programs. Exiting Afghanistan would save lives.
On the bad news front (bad for everyone except Karzai, the Afghan leader) Defense Secretary Gates said today that the US may continue to keep troops beyond 2014. AP quotes him: "Obviously it would be a small fraction of the presence we have today, but I think we're willing to do that."
Not me. I don't want one penny more spent or one more life lost in this misguided war in the "Graveyard of Empires".
No comments:
Post a Comment