Wisconsin and Afghanistan – If only we'd connect the dots
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Iraq & Vietnam War Stories
Robert Greenwald
02/19/2011
There is something stirring in Wisconsin and some folks have tried to connect it to what's happened in Egypt. Unionized workers and their many supporters are in danger of losing their right to bargain collectively and the uprising that it has led to among the citizenry is definitely causing consternation among Republican lawmakers and the Republican governor. The comparison to Egypt – of people standing up to governmental efforts to limit their rights – is certainly understandable, but I have been wanting to express another connection that I feel deserves consideration since it is directly responsible for what is happening in Wisconsin, which is just the tip of an iceberg that threatens to take down our republic. The article below by Robert Greenwald details what I have been knowing and feeling since I heard about the Madison uprising – that the money we have been spending in Afghanistan is causing the crisis. He says it even more forcefully and concretely in the title in which he equates the monetary shortfall in Wisconsin with the return of 151 troops from the ill-fated war. That's all it would take to save those whose livelihoods are being threatened and whose right to collectively bargain for their future contracts are in jeopardy. Greenwald, filmmaker and creator of the RETHINK AFGHANISTAN documentary, connects the dots much as the NATIONAL PRIORITIES PROJECT has done in letting us know what the true cost of this war is for each of our communities and each of us as individuals taxpayers. That each soldier costs our country $1 million a year (which doesn't include the cost of healing those who come back with physical, mental, emotional and spiritual wounds) means that the money Governor Walker is trying to take back from the workers in his state – $151 million – could be restored with the return of those 151 troops. Then multiply that by all of the states which are in similar budgetary crisis already and those that are fated to experience a similar reality and the true cost of this futile war is evident. Greenwald connects the dots. If only we could get our national and local government to do the same. At the end of the article he invites the reader to join RETHINK AFGHANISTAN (http://rethinkafghanistan.com/). If you've not checked out their website I strongly encourage you to do so. We're not getting the story it tells from our mainstream media…
Published on Saturday, February 19, 2011 by Rethink Afghanistan
BRINGING HOME 150 TROOPS FROM AFGHANISTAN WOULD FIX WISCONSIN'S BUDGET "CRISIS"
by Robert Greenwald
Wisconsin's Governor Scott Walker is using phony budget projections to manufacture a staged "fiscal emergency" in his state so that he can whack programs and political opponents, but even his fake "emergency" pales in comparison to the cost of the Afghanistan War to his state. In fact, the U.S. would only have to bring home 151 troops from Afghanistan to save more money than Walker's ridiculous union-busting plan. Better yet, ending the Afghanistan War altogether would save taxpayers in Wisconsin $1.7 billion this year alone, more than ten times the amount "saved" in Walker's attack on state employee rights.
One might ask, "Isn't Walker's fake budget crisis a state budget issue? How would ending the Afghanistan War pay for that?" We get this question a lot when we talk about the cost of war to a state's taxpayer. Keep in mind that state budgets are tangled with federal spending. That's especially true over the past couple of years, as state budgets have relied on federal Recovery Act funds to balance their books during the recession. Spending decisions at the federal level are therefore doubly important, as they not only affect the national budget, but also what funds are available to help preserve state-level public structures.
That brings us to Walker's slash-and-burn approach to the state budget. ??"Under Walker's plan, most public workers – excluding police, firefighters and state troopers – would have to pay half of their pension costs and at least 12 percent of their health-care costs. They would lose bargaining rights for anything other than pay. Walker, who took office last month, says the emergency measure would save $300 million over the next two years to help close a $3.6 billion budget gap."
So on average, Walker's slash-and-burn attack on the unions in his state would save $150 million per year for two years. But if Wisconsin is truly in a state of fiscal emergency, as Walker claims, why is he not demanding the president withdraw troops from Afghanistan and make the savings available as fiscal aid to states? Every troop deployed in Afghanistan costs the U.S. $1 million per year, so simply bringing home 151 troops would save more money than his plan. And, with fiscal 2011 Afghanistan War spending alone to top $1.7 billion for Wisconsin taxpayers, an end to the war would free up more than ten times his plan's cash, which the president could use for state fiscal aid.
Of course, the end of the Afghanistan War would mean that people with whom Walker is cozy would lose some important revenue streams. Remember Wackenhut, the war contractors that disgraced us by holding drunken, nude firelight romps in Afghanistan on the State Department's dime? Walker got them a sweet privatized state security contract in a prior fit of "cost-savings" that failed to add up. But who needs to rein in death, destruction and obscenity when you can take a whack at the unions, right? Walker's not actually interested in fixing a supposed emergency. He's interested in paying off allies and zinging enemies, and you can tell that by his silence on war spending that's bleeding his state taxpayers dry.
At any rate, state politicians in Wisconsin and beyond are going to have to face a moment of truth when federal stimulus aid runs out at the end of this year. Their citizens hate the Afghanistan War, and they won't go along with draconian cuts to vital public structures or attacks on collective bargaining. They can either wise up and join the chorus of people calling for an end to the war, or be ready to face tens of thousands of fed-up protesters and angry voters. Your move, folks.
If you're fed up wit this war that's not making us safer and that's not worth the cost, join Rethink Afghanistan on Facebook and Twitter.
