Iraq War has Cost N. Coast $2.2 Billion
by Bob Norberg
Posted on 2008-01-25 16:17:52
The war in Iraq has cost North Coast taxpayers $2.2 billion, according to an anti-war group that said the money could be better spent on health care, education, housing and public safety. "It is heartbreaking to hear that we would rather fight an unwinnable civil war in Iraq than provide health care for nearly 500,000 children," said Paul Schiefer of Cotati, a spokesman for MoveOn.org.
MoveOn.org, a national political action committee, released a study
Thursday that it said detailed the cost of the war in each congressional district.
The group said it used congressional budget allocations and
Supplemental funding bills to set the cost of the war to date at $456 billion. Internal Revenue Service records were used to compute the costs at a local
level.
The report said war spending included $1.33 billion of taxes
collected in the 6th Congressional District, which covers Marin and most of Sonoma County and is represented by Democrat Lynn Woolsey of Petaluma. The cost figure was $875 million in the 1st District, which includes much of the North Coast and is represented by Democrat Mike Thompson of St. Helena.
MoveOn spokeswoman Marty Roberts said they hope the information
will be used by Woolsey and Thompson to argue to end the war next
month, when Congress is scheduled to get a military progress report.
Woolsey has been an outspoken critic of the war since before it
started in 2003. Thompson also voted against a resolution authorizing the war and has been critical of the Bush administration's handling of Iraq.
Locally, the MoveOn.org report was released Thursday at Sebastopol's Palm Drive Hospital, which local members of the group cited as an example of a local health care facility suffering financial problems.
The publicly owned hospital has lost $19 million over the past six
years, and directors recently approved a plan to borrow $16.6 million on the bond market so it can remain open.
"Here's Palm Drive struggling financially and here is the government spending $1.33 billion on a war that no one wants," Roberts said.
MoveOn.org said the money spent on the war could cover one-year
costs for health care coverage for more than 900,000 people, hiring 33,000 elementary school teachers, providing 338,000 college scholarships, building 6,500 affordable housing units or hiring about 41,000 law enforcement officers in the two congressional districts.
Bob Norberg is a reporter for the Santa Rosa Press Democrat
|
