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Friday, September 02, 2005
Questionable Priorities
P
erhaps the aftereffects of Hurricane Katrina lend some perspective to the kinds of choices the Bush administration makes.
A
bout 140,000 U.S. troops, including many from the National Guard, remain stalled in Iraq. More than $180 million of our tax money is spent there each day. Here at home, neglected infrastructure fails under the assault of predictable natural forces, perhaps strengthened by the ocean-heating effects of global warming. Armored Humvees and distant helicopters offer no help to those stranded on rooftops in the Gulf states. Halliburton's logistical talents could better be used housing and feeding the tens of thousands of displaced storm victims.
E
nvironmental experts had recommended replenishing the Louisiana coastal marshlands as a way to shore up the levees and floodwalls holding back the river and lake in event of a Category 4 or 5 hurricane for a cost that "could top $14 billion," and a report from the Institute for Policy Studies and Foreign Policy in Focus that estimates the cost for the war in Iraq at $5.6 billion per month. So, for about 2 1/2 months of a war with a very questionable purpose and even more questionable outcome, the disaster in New Orleans could possibly have been averted.
W
hat will it take to modify the fundamentally antisocial and inhumane drift of our government? We kill for democracy; we torture for freedom; we impoverish for prosperity, and we poison our own wells in the name of free enterprise. How many other domestic priorities will turn into tragedies before this discretionary war ends?
Posted by fm on September 02, 2005 at 12:11 AM