After five years of American involvement in Iraq, working families are saddled with:
- Official War Costs of $512 billion ($275 million a day)
- Actual costs (with interest) of $1.3 trillion (with some estimates of $3 trillion)
- Over 4,000 American troops have been killed in Iraq
- Nearly 30,000 American troops wounded
- Estimates of 500,000 to over 1 million Iraqi deaths since the invasion
But there is hope for a way out. On March 17th, America In Solidarity pledge signer Darcy Burner, a candidate for Congress in Washington's 8th Congressional District, presented at the "Take Back America Conference" a plan to bring the war in Iraq to a responsible end. The plan was designed by leading military experts, policy analysts, national security experts, and a group of top-tier Congressional candidates and elected officials including AIS pledge signer Rep. Larry Seaquist (a former Navy Commander) and retired General Paul Eaton (in photo) who addressed our Progressive Convention in November.
The plan (click here for the full plan) would:
- End the military effort in Iraq and bring our troops home,
- Begin to repair the damage five years of war and occupation have caused, at home and abroad,
- Prevent a repeat of this sort of epic and costly foreign policy blunder in the future.
For several years, America In Solidarity has opposed the continual occupation of Iraq as the loss in lives, lack of concrete progress toward America's stated goals and ballooning financial cost fails to justify our presence. America's infrastructure is weak, our economy is weaker and the emphasis of our national priorities need to be shifted here. The billions spent in Iraq could have been used to develop jobs and infrastructure, educating our youth, providing health care and exploring new sources of energy. Despite a resounding cry for a new direction in Iraq as shown in the midterm elections, Congress has failed to stand up to the Bush Administration. America In Solidarity applauds the efforts and leadership of Darcy Burner, Captain Seaquist and General Eaton for helping force a solution and will be encouraging its volunteer base to help push this plan.
There are over 4,000 reasons to find a responsible plan out of Iraq, if not a few billion.
A few links:
Darcy Burner's campaign website
Your Congressional Representative
