Photo: U.S. Army on Flickr

Over the past decade, American taxpayers have sunk hundreds of billions of dollars into funding the war in Iraq -- $816 billion since 2003, and counting. 

Meanwhile, domestic human, social, and infrastructure needs have suffered drastic budget cutbacks. One recent poll shows that 74 percent of voters oppose sending combat troops into Iraq, while an overwhelming majority of Americans consistently support investment in domestic programs like public education, jobs, food assistance, health care, and renewable energy and the environment.

Act now to tell the President and Congress: we can't afford to spend more on war in Iraq.

National Priorities Project's data shows that the dollars we've spent on 10 years of war in Iraq could have financed a well-rounded domestic program, including: provided 4.75 million students Pell Grants of $5,550; equipped 4 million households with wind power; hired 65,000 new police officers; supplied 5 million veterans with VA medical care; and paid 100,000 elementary school teachers each year for a decade.

With our domestic economy still struggling, our veterans in dire need of care and support, and millions of people struggling to make ends meet at home, now's not the time to commit more funds to war. 

Our leaders must look for ways to be helpful in the Iraq crisis that don't involve combat operations and the cost to our nation that goes along with them. 

That's why we've started a petition to tell President Obama and Congress to fund what we need at home, not a new war overseas.   

Will you sign our petition? Click here to add your name.

We need to show that we’ve learned our painful lesson, that sending American troops to the Middle East will not make the situation better.