WHY are you opposed to more spending for the Iraq war ???

[welshTerrier2]

i'm trying to compile the best possible list of reasons to oppose bush's budget request for an additional $81.9 billion ... here are my reasons:

1. the war is making the U.S. less safe, not more safe
2. we have lost our "good guys" image and we've lost influence with other countries because of it ...
3. the policy has destabilized the Middle East making other countries a greater risk to the U.S.
4. American occupation is preventing any possible progress among Iraqi regional factions ... no solution will be found until the U.S. leaves
5. the U.S. is seen as arrogant because most other countries refused to participate in this occupation
6. a regionally negotiated solution supported by an international framework is the only path to a more stable Iraq
7. the Defense budget is around $400 billion ... if Iraq is a priority, take the money from a different defense program, don't increase the budget with this special allocation ... some argue that the money is "for the troops" ... the troops should have whatever equipment they need but it should be funded by the already bloated defense budget ... the truth is bush chose not to fund it and more money won't change that ...
8. we have badly weakened our military ... stop loss orders and the deaths and injuries to American troops have severely reduced enlistment levels ... we could not now fight a two front war in an emergency ...
9. we have already lost the war ... throwing more money at the problem won't change the reality on the ground ...
10. Even Porter Goss acknowledged that anti-Americanism fanned by the U.S. occupation of Iraq has created many more al Qaeda "terrorists"
11. bush won't stop with THIS war ... we need to pull the plug on war funding because otherwise this war will never end
12. our treasury is bankrupt ... the U.S. has been sold because bush has borrowed the U.S. into the toilet ... and needed programs are facing severe cuts
13. Exxon-Mobil just reported record profits directly attributable to high oil prices which are directly attributable to the neo-con-created instability in the Middle East ... we are spending precious budget dollars to help bush's friends in the oil industry ...

Can you add some "muscle" to the above list ?? Maybe if we get a really good list together, we could start a campaign to mail it to every Senator and Congressman as a request to put an end to the madness.

[cheezus]

1. because at the same time we're squabbling over pennies for sick kids!

we could solve so many outrages here at home with just millions, and yet they want more big B Billions.... and for what?

[welshTerrier2]

2. "guns or butter"

they used to use the expression "guns or butter" for the argument you're making ... of course, now, bush doesn't really have to choose one or the other ... he just prefers to do so ...

he runs up massive deficits to fund his Middle East occupation and he doesn't give a damn about sick kids in the first place ...

[Career Prole]

3. Because shrub spent his "mad money" on something else.

June 7 , 2001, 12:00pm EDT
PRES. BUSH
SIGNS TAX CUT

President Bush today signed a $1.35 trillion tax cut into law, fulfilling a pledge that formed the centerpiece of his campaign.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/june01/tax_6-7.html

[welshTerrier2]

4. excellent, thanks !!

that was exactly the reason Kerry gave for voting against the last Iraq appropriation ... he argued, and i agreed with him, that if the invasion was going to be funded at all, it should be paid for without more borrowing ... IIRC, he wanted to roll-back the part of the tax cut that benefitted high wage earners ...

[noamnety]

5. What "war"?

I like the term Iraq Occupation. We aren't fighting the Iraq government, there is no war.

I will add that until we have adequate accounting procedures, including finding out what happened to the $9 billion missing, there's no point in giving any money to that cause. If you had a child who daily left their wallet in an unlocked open locker at school, and daily came back and found it empty, would you continue to pay them an allowance?

[mermaid]

6. Because That Is OUR Money, and Charity Begins At HOME!!!

FUCK IRAQ!!! Why the hell do THEY get universal health care, and WE can't have it??

Horseshit!!

Fuck Iraq, and fuck the Iraqi people. That money belongs to US..and should be being used to better OUR lot in life!!

[UdoKier]

7. Because we should be the hell out of there immediately and...

We should be LOANING them money, not giving it to them, and Iraqi companies could do most off this crap for half of what Halliburton and Bechtel are gouging us for. It's an obvious black hole and giveaway to favored Bushco courtesans.

[Cocoa]

8. lack of oversight

the dems held an important hearing last week on contracting fraud under the CPA, forced to do it because the republican majority refuses to exercise oversight.

[Just Me]

9. Because a corrupt, criminal, corporatist, war-profitteering tyranny,...

,...is in charge of this country and they are bleeding our people into oblivion while funnelling our every human resource into the hands of their greedy corporate cronies!!! :mad:

[damntexdem]

10. Don't pour more money down the rat hole.

Are we compulsive gamblers? Can't we stop after we've already lost much more than we can afford?

[ultraist]

11. It's Wrong to mass murder Iraqis and put our soldiers in harms way

when our country is not in imminent danger.

This preemptive war was not necessary and dragging it on, killing more people, and spending more money to do so, is Wrong.

It was wrong to go in and we are hemorrhaging, losing in a big way. We need to stop the bleeding, cut our losses and end it NOW.

There never was a good reason to bomb Iraq and they have failed to concoct one since they went in.

[Inland]

12. Bush is a fuckup, and any hypothetical good for the money

will founder on his incompetence and/or evil.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

13. Because it is morally wrong.

Killing people to further the ambitions of politicians, to further enrich the wealthy, is morally wrong. To enable the atrocity of war by funding it is morally wrong.

Sorry, if that doesn't jibe with the political "realists" and "pragmatists" that are sure to tell you that being pro-war is the only way to win elections. Which they fail to see as the validation of the "Power corrupts..." aphorism.

[jpgray]

14. I'm not sure that list would appeal to congresspeople

I would think they would like something more like:

"If we rubber-stamp every request for taxpayer dollars, we encourage arrogant and wasteful use of the money. We need to ensure that the money does not go toward graft and waste. Further the administration must be put on notice that poor planning and execution will not be rewarded with a meek "yes" whenever they ask for more funds--their incompetence has wasted taxpayer money and soldiers' lives. Think of all the billions of dollars and all the Iraqi and American lives that could have been saved had the postwar been better managed, or better, if we had truly exhausted all peaceful means before invading. It is not a good precedent to give a president all the money he wants without protest or qualification so long as he is able to keep American troops involved in conflict. It encourages irresponsible use of our armed forces and a waste of taxpayer dollars that bloats and corrupts contractors while weakening the worth and financial security of the average American."

[ashmanonar]

15. beautiful.

send it out! maybe we can get together mailing lists of all the senators and reps in the congress, and everyone can send some mails.

anyone wanna try?