Page 10
Minority & Small Business Week
S eptem ber 21, 2011
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Budget Cuts Don’t Touch War Funding
Bring troops and $170 billion home
P hyllis B ennis
N o U.S. troops
w ere killed in Iraq
last m onth. So w hy
a re n ’t w e celeb rat
ing? B ecau se the
w ar is n ’t o v er yet,
and it costs w ay too
m uch in both Iraqi lives and our
m oney.
W ith so m uch attention and so
m any billions o f o ur tax dollars shift
ing from Iraq to the devastating and
ever m ore expensive w ar in A fghani
stan, it's too easy to forget that there
are still alm ost 50 ,0 0 0 U.S. troops
o ccu p y in g Iraq.
W e're still paying alm ost $50 b il
lion a y ear for the Iraq W ar. A nd
w hile w e d o n ’t h ear about it very
often, too m any Iraqis are still being
killed.
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T h ere’s an awful lot o f discussion
u n d erw ay ab o u t the su p p o sed ly
m assive Pentagon budget cuts that
are loom ing as part o f a new deficit
deal. But those potential cuts don't
even touch the actual w ar funding —
$48 billion for Iraq and $ 122 billion for
A fghanistan, this year alone.
Im agine w hat w e could do w ith
those funds. W e could create and
fund new m iddle-class green jo b s
for 3.4 m illion w orkers, and m any o f
the thousands o f soldiers w e could
bring hom e from those useless w ars
could get som e o f those jobs.
Barack O bam a, back w hen he was
a presidential candidate, prom ised
he w ould end the Iraq W ar. In 2002,
he called it “a du m b w ar.” The U.S.
role in the w ar has gotten sm aller,
but it is n ’t o v er — and it h a sn ’t
gotten any sm arter.
(Observer
Established 1970
USPS 959-680 _________________ ________________
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Charles H. Washington
EniTOR.Michael L e ig h to n
D is t r ib u t io n M a n a g e r : M a rk W a s h in g to n
C r e a t iv e D ir e c t o r : P a u l N e u fe ld t
E d ito r - in -C h ie f , P ublisher :
Last year, O bam a said all com bat
operations in Iraq w ere about to
end. But 50,000 or so troops are still
there, training Iraqi security forces
and,
oh
y es,
c o n d u c tin g
co u nterterrorism operations. D o n ’t
“ c o u n te r te r r o r is m o p e r a tio n s ”
count as co m b at?
Even w orse, the O bam a adm inis
tration, follow ing G eorge W. Bush's
footsteps, seem s com m itted to keep
ing U.S. troops in Iraq beyond the
Dec. 31 deadline the U.S. and Iraqi
governm ents agreed to back in 2008.
T hat agreem ent w as supposed to
be absolute — all U .S. troops had to
leave by the end o f this year.
T h ere w ere loopholes, o f course.
The agreem ent said all Pentagon-
paid m ilitary contractors had to leave
too, but d id n ’t m ention those paid
by the State D epartm ent. So guess
w hich agency is taking o v er the
ch eck -w ritin g to pay the thousands
o f m ercenaries preparing to stay in
Iraq for the long haul?
W ashington is ratcheting up the
pressure on Iraq's w eak and corrupt
g o v ern m en t, p u sh in g B a g h d a d ’s
leadership to “in v ite” U.S. troops to
stay ju st a little bit longer. Iraq's
elected parliam ent, like the vast
m ajority o f the Iraqi people, w ants
all the troops out.
But dem o cratic accountability
doesn't seem to operate any better
in Iraq than it does here in the U nited
States. So the Iraqi cabinet m ade its
ow n d ecision, w ithout any m essy
consu ltatio n s w ith the parliam ent,
to “open n eg o tiatio n s” w ith W ash
ington o v er how m any U.S. troops
w ould continue occupying the coun
try, but for how long?
T he Iraq W ar isn't over, and we
still can't afford dum b w ars.
Phyllis Bennis is a fellow o f the
Institute fo r Policy Studies.
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