Costs of This War & Occupation

The costs of this war and occupation fall on all of us, but especially working people. First and foremost, there are the service members themselves who are facing injury and death every day, as well as their family members who love them - the vast majority of whom are working people. Then there are the financial costs: the US has spent over $450 billion on the war so far ($663 million of it from Vermont's taxpayers), and the Bush administration is now asking Congress to appropriate over $190 billion more for another year. The war is costing the US $720 million each day to occupy Iraq. That's money that could be used to build affordable housing, extend health insurance to every child, and train and hire tens of thousands of public school teachers.

Last but certainly not least, there are the Iraqi people themselves, who, after living with decades of political repression under Saddam Hussein, are now living under the heel of foreign troops. Over 4 million Iraqis have been displaced, and an estimated million Iraqis have died, as a result of the chaos the war and occupation have created. The rights of Iraqi working people to organize has been trampled and the labor movement has been suppressed by both the occupation and Iraqi government.

It is in labor's interest to end this war, because it's working people here and in Iraq who are being hurt most by it. Hundreds of union locals, labor councils, worker committees, state labor federations, and internationals - including the AFL-CIO - have called for an end to the war and the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. The majority of the American people want the same. But George Bush has said that the war must continue; it's up to American working people to make sure it ends, now.