Maine news, sports, weather from Waterville Morning Sentinel

August 7, 2010

Will war funding continue until we’re all bankrupt?

Congress just voted to borrow another $33 billion to escalate the war in Afghanistan next year. Both Maine’s senators voted “yes” to increase the national debt, while both of Maine’s representatives wisely voted “no.”

Perhaps Rep. Michael Michaud and Rep. Chelli Pingree weren’t fooled by the name “Supplemental Funding Bill for Disaster Relief and Summer Jobs.” Maybe they remembered the president’s promise when running for office to never fund wars with so-called emergency supplemental bills. (This is the second time he has broken that particular promise).

Probably they read the recent report from Democratic Rep. John Tierney of Massachusetts that said American tax dollars are flowing into the hands of warlords for protection of convoys, money that then finds its way into the hands of Taliban fighters and is used to fund their attacks on those same convoys. Or maybe they heard Gen. David Petraeus say that, “There is no military solution in Afghanistan.”

The U.S. is going broke while we pretend to exit from Iraq, leaving behind the largest fortified embassy ever constructed, and thousands of private contractors paid by taxpayers. Most of the soldiers who leave Iraq head to Afghanistan. U.S. State Department employees left behind in Iraq will have their own military units for the first time in history, expensive private armies.

Each Maine family of four has contributed an average of $10,000 to these wars, with no end in sight. Will it continue until every one of us is bankrupt? (bringourwardollarshome.org)



Lisa Savage

Solon

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