In his State of the Union address, President Obama committed to ending the war in Iraq: “Make no mistake: this war is ending, and all of our troops are coming home.”
“All of our troops”? We’ll see about that. He didn’t say anything about the military bases in Iraq, nor about the military contractors.
More disturbing, Obama said he would freeze government spending for three years, but not for the military: “Starting in 2011, we are prepared to freeze government spending for three years. (Applause.) Spending related to our national security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security will not be affected.”
Military spending is already the largest portion of the federal budget. The AFSC issued the following action alert in response to Obama’s speech. http://support.afsc.org/site/MessageViewer?em_id=9721.0&dlv_id=12681
Please join us in writing a letter to the editor today.
Dear Friend,
Today, after last night’s State of the Union speech, we have an opportunity to send a clear message. Let’s tell our friends and neighbors that the war is costing us jobs and services.
President Barack Obama proposed a three-year spending freeze on non-security discretionary spending beginning in 2011. Yet in just a week or two, when President Obama releases his FY11 budget, it is also expected that he will announce the need for a $33 billion war supplemental to pay for the troop escalation in Afghanistan.
Why is our president not only exempting military spending from the freeze, but also increasing the Pentagon’s budget? The military budget already roughly equals the rest of the world’s combined military spending, and our domestic programs and services are already vulnerable.
The trade-off is simple. If President Obama hadn’t decided to add more to the incredible economic costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there wouldn’t be a need to freeze essential domestic programs at a time when millions of Americans are still suffering from the Great Recession.
Many of you joined us in letting President Obama know that we didn’t want the Afghanistan surge in the first place, and we thank you for your energy and commitment. We have a long road ahead of us this spring to oppose funding for this surge, to continue to push for complete withdrawal from Afghanistan, and to ensure that our government sets better priorities.
We can start by sending a letter to the editor today and getting the word out – community by community.
We will be developing more action opportunities in the days to come to address the economic cost of the war. We hope you’ll continue to help us.
Wage peace,
Peter Lems and Mary ZerkelPS: If you missed Tuesday’s inspiring briefing with Zaher Wahab, Eyewitness Afghanistan: An Afghan Perspective, you can listen to it online. Mark your calendars now for the next call on Wednesday, February 24, when our guest Princeton Professor Zia Mian will discuss the political situation in Pakistan.
