Murtha Compares Iraq Policy to Domestic Policy

This info was sent to me by a friend and I felt this had to be posted. Hat tip to Ozy at www.mainstreampolitics.com for sending this to me and Chad Shue of "The Left Shue Blog" the author of the post:

As anyone who reads this humble Blog should know, I seldom relate the cost of the invasion and ongoing occupation of Iraq to dollars. Today, however, this item from Lynn Allen over at Evergreen Politics (which she credits to Taylor Marsh at the Blog of the same name) and, in particular, the source of the information caught my eye.

As most people know, Congressman John Murtha (D-PA), a decorated Marine, was an early supporter of the debacle that is the Bush Iraq policy. He has since come to recognize that our continuing presence there is a mistake. He has spoken to top military leaders inside the Pentagon and on the ground in that country to reach this conclusion. For his dedication to country (both in uniform and in the Congress) Rep. Murtha has been branded a "lefty" and an advocate of the infamous "cut and run" policy so widely embraced by the Democrats (tongue firmly planted in cheek here). For some six months, until just a couple of weeks ago, it seems Democrats couldn't run away from him fast enough.

It is with this introduction that I proudly present:

Murtha compares cost of war and domestic expenses.
A Report by Congressman John Murtha

(Washington D.C.)- We are spending $8 billion a month in Iraq. That equates to $2 billion a week, or $267 million a day, or $11 million an hour.

The following are some comparisons between what we are spending in Iraq as we "stay the course" indefinitely and what those funds could be used for instead.

I've been fighting for our military to get out of Iraq because I'm concerned about the loss of our troops and the future of our military, and also because I believe they have accomplished their mission there and the Iraqis must resolve their internal conflict themselves. However, I also wanted to demonstrate what these expenses mean to domestic policy in the United States and give you an idea of just some of the things that we could accomplish with this amount of money.

NATIONAL SECURITY

$31.7 billion/yr Homeland Security budget FY 07 = (4 months in Iraq)

$10 billion (1-time) Equipping commercial airliners with defenses against shoulder-fired missiles = (5 weeks in Iraq)

$8.6 billion/7 years Shortage of international aid needed to rebuild Afghanistan = (one month in Iraq)

$5.2 billion (1-time) Estimated need for capital improvements to secure public transportation system (trains, subways, buses) = (3 weeks in Iraq)

$1.5 billion/year Radiation detectors needed at all US ports (rejected due to cost) = (5 days in Iraq)

$1.4 billion/ year Double the COPS (community police grants) program (5 days in Iraq)

$800 million/year Public transportation personnel training and technical support = (72 hours in Iraq)

$700 million/year 100% screening of all air cargo - rejected because of cost (1/4 of domestic shipping and 1/2 of international shipping is done on passenger planes) = (2 days in Iraq)

$350 million (1-time) Make emergency radio systems interoperable (5 years after 9/11, this hasn't happened yet) = (1.2 days in Iraq)

$500 million/year Double the firefightersÂ’ grant program = (2 days in Iraq)

$94 million/year Restore cuts to cities hit on 9/11 in Homeland Security budget = (8-1/2 hours in Iraq)

HEALTH CARE/VETERANS

$36 billion/5 years reduction for Medicare spending in president's fiscal year 2007 (FY 07) budget = (4-1/2 months in Iraq)

$5 billion/5 years Cut in Medicaid in President's FY 2007 budget = (2-1/2 weeks in Iraq)

$2.5 billion/5 years VA health care premium increases in this year's budget. Premiums will double or triple and drug co-payments will increase, costing our military retirees $2.4 billion over 5 years = (9 days in Iraq)

$100 million Additional funding recommended for mental health research for veterans = (9 hours in Iraq)

$48 million Medical and prosthetic research for veterans = (half a day in Iraq)

$65 million/yr National Institutes of Health research funding cuts in this year's budget (scientists are leaving the field of health research because funding has been cut so severely) = (6 hours in Iraq)

$15 billion/yr Provide health insurance to 9 million children with no health insurance = (1-1/2 weeks in Iraq)

$118 million/yr The Commodity Supplemental Food Program, which provides nutritional food packages for less than $20 a month to more than 400,000 elderly people - eliminated in the president's budget ... = (12 hours in Iraq)
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Shue continues:

There is more to the report (including things specific to Murtha's home state of Pennsylvania. I recommend that you read the entire report. You should write the numbers down and then you should ask your Congressional Delegation (Rs and Ds) if they are familiar with these numbers. You should ask them if the are concerned about Homeland Security and National Defense and the healthcare needs of our nation's veterans. Then you should ask when they are going to start working with Congressman Murtha to end the travesty in Iraq and start working on the needs in this country.