Today I heard this on NPR:
"Israel will receive a total of $30 billion in U.S. military assistance while Egypt, which along with Jordan has made peace with Israel, will get $13 billion as part of the broader package."
http://www.npr.org/...
The cost of the war in Iraq is already up to ten billion a month. You may already know this site:
http://www.nationalpriorities.org/...
So here's my point & my question. Are those Americans who still support the war aware of its cost? And if not, wouldn't it be effective to alert them?
Republicans often claim to favor limited spending by the federal government. And they might also consider the fact that we're spending this money abroad, not here. Not on our port security. Not on our airport security. Not on our domestic needs.
For a while, Republican legislators were parroting the line, "fight 'em over there so we don't have to fight 'em here." But it would surely be a lot cheaper to protect ourselves over here.
And why should we be giving away (or selling) billions of dollars in military aid/weaponry?
I'd like to make this point--the cost of the war--all by itself, leaving aside the other downsides of the war (the death of soldiers & civilians, the hostility it generates, etc.) because I think it would have an impact.
I wish that Move On would make a commercial featuring nothing more than the cost of the war--something along the lines of the above link.
By the way, I liked something that John Edwards said during a recent debate: "I wish Americans would feel patriotic about something other than war."
And here's an excellent passage from Benjamin Franklin's letter to Sir Joseph Banks, written on July 27, 1783:
"I join with you most cordially in rejoicing at the return of Peace. I hope it will be lasting, and that Mankind will at length, as they call themselves reasonable Creatures, have Reason & Sense enough to settle their Differences without cutting Throats; for in my opinion, there never was a good War, or a bad Peace. What vast additions to the Conveniences & Comforts of Living might Mankind have acquired, if the Money spent in Wars had been employed in Works of public utility! What an extension of Agriculture, even to the Tops of our Mountains; what Rivers rendered navigable, or joined by Canals; what Bridges, Aqueducts, new Roads, and other public Works, Edifices, and Improvements...might have been obtained by spending those Millions in doing good, which in the last War have been spent in doing Mischief; in bringing Misery into thousands of of Families, and destroying the Lives of so many thousands of working people, who might have performed useful labour!" [italics original]