Cost of War at Home

Saturday, March 15th 7:00PM - 8:30PM

*Note – We are Live Blogging Winter Soldier Friday through Sunday. *
You may see more typographical errers errors than usual as we type like @$#!*
*Please bear with us as we get the news out to you*

7:15: Adrienne Kinney Whistle blower

One of the biggest costs at home are to the Constitution
Why it matters where an American is in the world whether they are protected by the constitution" is hard to understand.
Our government is using these occupations to destroy constitutional rights of all Americans.
She apologizes for her service because she believes that it might have contributed to the trials of the veterans here this weekend. The Audience stands and applauds as it does with each revelation and appology and special truth spoken this weekend.

Carlos Arredondo
His son was killed in fighting in Najaf in 2004. He speaks of the heartbreak that so many families endure from losing their children to this war.

7:40pm:Fernando Suarez del Solar
Fernando reports his son who was killed in Iraq by stepping on an illegal cluster bomb and died after waiting 2 hours for medical help.

He says that his and Carlos families are one of 4000 families that have endured these losses and asks: How many more before we all stand up against the war.

7:45: Nancy Lessin - labor lawyer
Nancy is one of the founders of Military Families Speak Out and a labor lawyer who says that the contract the US military has with service members is not being honored by the US government.

Nancy ends by thanking the IVAW for telling the real "Ground Truth". Political leaders have never stopped a war - it takes a a social movement and it is here.

Charley Richardson - labor lawyer
The Iraq war is also a war on dissent within the military, a war on freedom and a war on truth.
Leaders children never serve today. Most of America is isolated from the war leaving the burden on the military and their families.

Cost of the war at home is a loss of democracy and a social outlook that cedes our freedom and decency as a people. The truth is that funding the war is killing our troops and the iraqi people.

Not one more lie, not one more dime
bring our troops home and take care of them when they get here!

8:05pm: Brooks Sunket:
Presents the cost of war interms of what we could have had - very much like our VFP chapter 78 Cost of War campaign ie how much health care, education, etc could we buy with the money spent on war; how much security and freedom have we lost. He then did a comparisons between Vietnam and Iraq and finds many differences.

Catherine Lutz - anthropologist
Analysis of how taxes for the military are redistributed - more goes to wealthy corporate owners and less to poor and middle class families.

A good example is Fort Bragg at Fayetteville which is an economically poor area because of Fort Bragg - working class minimum wage jobs and low pay for soldiers keeps the economy poor.

Racism and sexism pervades the culture of the military and is encouraged by war making.

Massive environmental damage has also been caused by the industrial process that is part of war making. Military installations are often exempted from environmental regulations.

Cultural arrogance is encouraged and indeed is encouraged by war and occupation. Being the largest arms dealer in the world, having hte largest nuclear stock pile in the world has to affect the culture of Americans.

Lutz says her University system is constantly being coerced by the military and the government to participate inthe military industrial complex.

She describes the changes in social support system which is being traded out for a support system for military corporations. And she describes the massive amounts of money- money - money that is poured into the advertising campaign that gives a "military definition of the situation".

We must constantly question that definition and continually count the costs that could make this society a better place.

My favorite site on Cost of War is the National Priorities Project The counter you see here is from that site and if you click below you will go to an interactive site that gives "trade-offs" of what (health care, education, housing) we could have spent that money on at home.

click here to learn more

Background:
AlterNet: War on Iraq: Cost of Iraq War Now Beyond Human Comprehension
War is Hell, But What the Hell Does it Cost?
One Week at War in Iraq and Afghanistan for $3.5 Billion

"If economists Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes are right in their recent calculations and this will turn out to be more than a $3 trillion war (or even a $5-7 trillion one)"

"Nothing, of course, has been cheap for American taxpayers who are financing the Bush administration's war policies. It's been like putting up money for an administration staffed by shopaholics let loose in Neiman Marcus or gambling addicts freed to roam Las Vegas with no betting limits."