The untold cost of the Iraq war
As the Town of Walpole faces a critical budget shortfall a compelling link can be made to the sky rocking cost of the Iraqi war, a war which the Bush administration started under blatantly false pretenses by manipulating intelligence data. Although the financial cost of the war pales to the destruction and deaths it has caused, the financial cost also directly affects the lives of every one of us as the federal government continues to cut budgets for human services.
According to the Congressional Research Service, the U.S. has spent over $250 billon on direct military operations in Iraq since 2003, over and above the normal defense budget, which is already the highest in the world. The Iraqi war cost to-date breaks down to about $1,000 per capita or $23,000,000 just for Walpole based on our population. This amount is almost as much as Walpole’s education budget for one year. And according to Professor Joseph Stiglitz of Columbia University, the 2001 Nobel economics prize winner, the full cost of the war could be one to two trillion dollars taking into account all long term costs.
We should demand that our congressional delegation work to end the war. This war is tragic enough with the number of Americans and Iraqi killed and wounded, with the destruction and civil war in Iraq, and with an intensification of anti- American feelings around the world. The war also is harmful as it threatens our nation’s capacity to fund critical human services and assist towns like Walpole.
Philip Czachorowski
Pemberton Street
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