The War on Terror and Foreigon Aid Costs Too Much

The people of this country can not afford to maintain the policies of  funding the War on Terror and spending billions on foreign aid when the country is facing such economic hard times.  These billions could be spent better within the borders of the United States.  

The War on Terror ( Iraq war, Afghanistan war) is now the longest war in US history.  In the ninth year of operations since the 9/11 attacks while troops are being withdrawn in Iraq and increased in Afghanistan, the cost of war continues to be a major issue.   We must consider the longer-term costs implications of  the buildup of troops in Afghanistan and potential problems in the withdrawal of U.S. forces from overseas theaters.  The average monthly cost of the war is around 11 billion per month.  The total cost of the war to date is around 1.5 trillion dollars with no end in sight.


The purpose of Foreign Aid is to create foreign markets for US products and services, increase national security of the country, fight drugs, and promote democracy.

Iraqi Aid is the latest example of corruption being a major problem.  How often have we heard of the funds end up in private bank accounts?  It is often the leaders and governments getting the money and not the people it is intended to help.  The poorest nations often receive the least amount of  assistance and the richer ones receiving the most.   For instance, Israel received around 2.6 billion dollars in US Aid. How has the aid actually helped the US government and its policy?  If the UN voting records of the countries that receive aid from the US, it is not much.

The troops must be brought home to include the 50,000 plus service members in Korea.  The only military forces that should be deployed overseas are the ones that directly contribute to the safety of US citizens and interests.

The United States has to start being extremely picky about how it distributes foreign aid.  Foreign aid should be cut drastically to programs that directly benefit the United States and contribute to the defense of the country.  The process of foreign aid should be streamlined with unifying agency supervising all expenditures overseas.

How can we continue spending the way we do when every three months, 250,000 new families enter into foreclosure,  1,318,398 violent crimes occurred nationwide in 2009, 50% of high school seniors have used illegal drugs, US students are 28th in the world in math and science, and the average cost of a college education has risen faster than health care?

Waiting for Superman

A recent editorial Mike Hashimoto/ Editor in the Dallas Morning News caught my attention about the recent released documentary "Waiting for Superman".   His examination of the Davis Guggenheim film, "Waiting for Superman" was logical, concise, and well balanced.

This is a documentary about what is wrong with the American public education system, once the best in the world, and who is to blame for a system that   routinely forsakes the education of millions of children. The film gives names and faces to the statistics of some of those children that are hurt by failing education system.

I enjoyed reading this editorial.  Mike Hashimoto examines the major points of the film in well written, clear, and easily understood manner.  In his editorial, Mike Hashimoto presents a number of viewpoints from various sources with links to read this different views.  There are also numerous links presented, in the editorial, on where to get facts about the state of the American education system.  To get the story straight from the source, this is the link "Waiting for Superman" website.   


This film concerns how my children might be educated.  I have not seen the movie yet, but I plan to see it as soon as I can.  As the father of two children, their education is something that is always on my mind.

The President's Wars

In a recent column, by the author Charles Krauthammer  in the New York Daily News, condemns President Obama’s handling of Afghanistan.   His opinions were logical for the most part but it seems he was cherry picking the facts to serve his argument.  The basis for his opinions were based on the book by Bob Woodward about Obams’s handling of the Afghanistan.  I had several conflicting views about his arguments and facts.  As a veteran of the War on Terror and more specifically of the Iraqi surge, my opinions are somewhat bias against some of his arguments.   

The authors main arguments is that Afghanistan a political tool to save his political career and standing within the Democratic Party.   One of the facts cited was the President announcing the surge and then the withdraw date approximately 18 months later.  This is a mistake by the President.  The insurgents are in it for the long haul.  With this kind of announcement, the terrorist will just wait until the US pulls out of Afghanistan.  He furthers adds that President Obama is not leading the nation during a time of war.  He cited Bushes leadership of the Iraqi War as an example.  President Bush whole handling of the War on Terror as political tool that suited his purposes.  President Obama was further criticized as having people around him that disagreed with him but we all saw what happened when the President surrounds himself with Yes Men.