Congratulations to the Beacon for printing Anita Stirling and Frank Paiano’s letter (“Open letter to Rep. Susan Davis,” Nov. 22 edition) urging Rep. Susan Davis to deny President Bush’s request for an extra $50 billion to occupy Iraq for the rest of the year.
Occupation advocates and critics alike should be concerned about the bloated costs and huge amount of debt being passed down to our grandchildren. It costs an average of $1,000 a day to hire one of the 180,000 mercenaries occupying Iraq on the U.S. taxpayers’ behalf.
Ex-Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan wrote: “The Iraq war is largely about oil.” Should a public army be used to obtain oil for private corporations?
I would like to ask Rep. Susan Davis to immediately write and introduce a bill to Congress that requires the occupation to be paid for with existing funds. Whether the occupation is right or wrong, its costs shouldn’t be deferred to future generations. Does winning in Iraq mean staying until the oil is pumped dry?